"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [ظ‎‎٢‎٠‎٢] (٧٣٨/٤٠٩)

RIVER SYSTEMS OF NORTHERN SYRIA
river 70 ft. or more wide and 3 to 6 ft. deep. Although the
channel is here thickly lined with trees, the depth of the river
bed is so great that they are invisible from a short distance.
The river now winds in its deep chasm and receives another
copious spring on the r. bank, Magharet er-Rahib, which pours
out at a height of 100 ft. from the face of a high cliff. Thence
it flows in a northerly direction, with many windings, through
a rocky sterile country to the bridge at Hermil where it takes
a more easterly course to Ribleh. The banks here become
low with a fertile plain on either side ; on the r. the stream
receives an affluent from Zerra‘. At Ribleh there is a much-
frequented ford with a hard bottom, the water being 3 ft.
deep in June. It has been suggested by Robinson and other
travellers that the nature of the country westward of the river
is such that the waters could be diverted from above Ribleh
to the Buqei‘ah plain, (see p. 13), there to join the channel of
the Nahr el Kebir. Up to this point the flow of water is con
siderably augmented by numerous springs in the channel and
banks, and for this reason the large irrigation canals which take
off from its upper reaches do not appear seriously to reduce the
volume of water. For the most part vegetation is found only
on the verge of the stream in the bottom of the chasm.
kiom the northern termination of the Anti-Lebanon range
northwards for 20—25 miles where the hills begin to rise
again, the country east of the river is a limitless fertile plain;
to west are the north-eastern foothills of the Lebanon and
the low beginnings of the Ansariyeh mountains. Beyond
Ribleh the channel takes a north-westerly course, and later
bears north, receiving an affluent on the 1. near Tell Nebi
Mindau, where there is a spring and small lake. It then
bears north-east, spreading out to the lake of Homs, Bahret
Qattineh, which covers an area of about 6 by 3 miles. The
lake is artificially formed, the stream being dammed by a leaky
embankment of ancient construction 500 ft. long with a maxi
mum height of 20 ft. across which a path leads. In the
southern part of the lake there is a small island with a tell.
In 1888 a scheme for raising the level of the lake 25 ft. by