'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.' [‎535] (626/905)

CHAP. XXI.]
SOIL.
535
tainous parts of Palestine and central Syria is dry and stony, Palestine in
being formed, in a great measure, from the debris of rocks, of part rocky '
whicli a large portion of the surface of the districts of Lebanon,
the Haouran, and Ledja, with the mountainous countries of
Judsea, are composed; it is mixed, however, with the alluvium
constantly brought down by the irrigating streams. The
natural harshness of the soil is overcome by industry, and the
slopes and terraces are rendered sufficiently fertile, while the
lower parts of the country are naturally productive.
The second and richest district are the plains of Esdraelon, Soil of the
Zabulon, Ba'albek, part of the Decapolis, and Damascus, as Deca P ol,s » &c -
well as the valleys of the Jordan and Orontes, which for the
most part consist of a fat, loamy soil, like that of Umk, and
the other tracts already noticed in northern Syria. Being
almost without a pebble, it becomes, when dry, a fine brown
earth, like garden mould, which, when saturated by the rains,
is almost a quagmire, and in the early part of summer becomes
a marsh: when cultivated, most abundant crops of the finest
tobacco, cotton, and grain are obtained.
The remainder of the territory chiefly consists of thesoiiofthe
plains called Barr by the Arabs, and Midbar by the Hebrews, s^rfaT parts of
each word signifying simply a tract of land left entirely to
nature, and being applied to the pasture tracts about almost
every town in Syria, as well as to those spots where vege
tation almost entirely fails. Such spots prevail in the tracts
towards the eastern side of the country, where the soil is
mostly an indurated clay with irregular ridges of limestone
hills separating different parts of the surface. The better
description of soil is occasionally diversified by hill and dale,
and has very much the appearance of some of our downs, but is
covered with the liquorice plant, mixed with aromatic shrubs,
and occasionally some dwarf trees, such as the tamarisk and
acacia. Many of the tracts eastward of the Jordan are of
this description, particularly those near the Haouran, which,
under the name of Roman Arabia, had Bozra for its capital.
The inferior tracts are frequently coated with pebbles and
black flints, having little and sometimes no vegetation; their
cheerless and monotonous aspect being relieved at intervals