'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎395] (474/905)

CHAP. XVII.]
COURSE OF THE ORONTES.
395
proaches Horns, the Bahr-el-Kades, which is six miles long
by about two wide.
The Orontes flows northward from the extremity of Bridge at
the latter, passing a mile and a half to the westward of
Homs, to which a supply of water is carried by means of a
small derivation; it continues to flow northward for some
miles, and then makes a great bend, sweeping round the foot
of Mount Erbayn, and issuing from between rugged moun
tains at Hamah, where it is crossed by a bridge of thirteen
arches. 1
After running through this city, it flows north-westward Lake ei Taka.
along the rich pasture-valley of El Ghab, passing a few
miles westward of Kal'at-el-Medik, and a little beyond, it
receives an affluent which, after a short course, enters it on
the eastern side. This stream issues from Lake El Taka,
which, in addition to the carp contained in it, is remarkable
for such an abundance of black fish, from five to eight feet in
length, that the fishermen, by throwing their harpoons at
random, fill their boats in the course of the night. 2 The
main stream now turns northward between the Anzeyri
mountains on the west and Jebel-el-Ala, the prolongation of
the Armenas, along the eastern side; and it continues to
Jisr Sogheir, still preserving, its northern direction, but
running slowly, and, owing to marshes and irrigation, con
veying a diminished volume of water. On reaching the
plain of 'Umk it makes a bold sweep to the north-west and
west, as far as Jisr Hadid, receiving an affluent from the
mountains above mentioned ; and again, a little lower, another
tributary called N ahr-el-Butuyune, which, like the former,
has a northerly course. About five miles below the iron
bridge, as it is called, the Orontes receives its great northern
branch, the Lower Kara Su, a navigable river containing a
greater volume of water than the parent stream, which it
enters on the northern side after a short course from the
Aga Denghis, or White Sea. This remarkable sheet of
water occupies the western portion of the extensive plain of
1 Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, p. 143. 8 Ibid., p. 137.
3 E 2