'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.' [‎407] (488/905)

CHAP. XVIII.]
SURFACE OF THE COUNTRY.
407
basalt. From hence, a limestone ridge, the Lelin-Tagh,
extends in a south-westerly direction by A'zaz to the culmina
ting point of Sheik Barakat, and onward as far as the district
of Armanas, sending off to the west the Anguli-Tagh, which
ultimately flanks the valley of the Orontes to the east. Again,
more eastward, undulating hills separate the rich and exten
sive plain of Aleppo from the almost unoccupied country
which, with the exceptions of Jebel-el-Has, Jebel-el-Amri,
and the triple range of Jebel Dana Tagh, stretching south
ward of Munbedj, consists of a level sheep-tract extending
from thence to the right bank of the Euphrates.
In general the soil throughout the Pashalik of Aleppo is The soil,
excellent, and its climate so good that it has been compared by
Dr. Heifer to that of southern Austria; but although ad
mitting of a fourth variety, the temperatures to which it is
subject will be found to correspond to one or another of the
three natural subdivisions of the territory: these last are dis
tinctly marked by their structure, their aspect, their elevation,
and their animal as well as their vegetable productions.
The first of the zones or belts contains the warm districts and features of
stretching along the eastern and western slopes of the
Amanus. The former portion comprises the level tracts
lying along the lower part of the southern Orontes, together
with those of the ancient Campus Martius, and the extensive
plain of 'Umk, which surrounds the lake of Antioch, and is
entirely composed of lacustrine deposits at an elevation of
305 feet above the Mediterranean Sea. The ridges and
higher ground along the valleys of the Yagra, the Afrin, the
Kara Su, &c., are occupied by the stone-built hamlets of the
Kurds and some few Turkoman villages; the level tracts,
which are also without towns, being partly covered with
impenetrable beds of gigantic thistles rising to the height of
10 or 12 feet, and partly occupied by the Turkomans, whose
camps and flocks extend for some distance round Murad
Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. . The remainder of the territory, which includes the
classic ground bordering upon the shores of the Mediterra
nean may be considered as divided into two portions by the
remarkable headland of Ras-el-Khanzir. In the more north-