The Vale of the Asphaltites is further remarkable for a species of limestone called the fetid, the smell of which, as its name imports, is extremely offensive. It is still manufactured in the East into amulets, and worn as a specific against the plague; and that a similar superstition existed in regard to this stone in very early ages is rendered manifest by the circumstance, that charms made of the same substance were found in the subterranean chambers under the pyramids of Sakhara in Upper Egypt. The cause of the fetid effluvia emitted from this rock, when partially decomposed by means of friction, is now known to be connected with the presence of sulphuretted hydrogen. All bituminous limestone, however, does not possess this property. It is not uncommon in the calcareous beds called in England black marble, but it is by no means their characteristic. The fragments obtained in the valley of the Jordan have this savour in a high degree; and it is admitted that the oriental limestone is more highly impregnated with hydrosulphuret than any hitherto found in Europe.[189]
According to Dr. Shaw, the upper strata of rocks on the hills along the coast are composed of a soft chalky substance, including a great variety of corals, shells, and other marine exuviae. Upon the Castravan mountains, near Beirout, there is a singular bed, consisting likewise of a whitish stone, but of the slate-kind, which unfolds in every flake of it a great number and variety of fishes. These, for the most part, lie exceedingly flat and compressed, like the fossil specimens of fern; yet are, at the same time, so well preserved, that the smallest lineaments and fibres of their fins, scales, and other specific properties of structure are easily distinguished. Among these were some individuals of the squilla tribe, which, though one of the tenderest of the crustaceous family, had not suffered the least injury from pressure or friction. The heights of Carmel, too, present similar phenomena. In the chalky beds which surround its summit are gathered numerous hollow flints, lined in the inside with a variety of sparry matter, and having some resemblance to petrified fruit. These are commonly bestowed upon pilgrims, not only as curiosities, but as antidotes against several distempers. Those which bear a likeness to the olive, usually denominated "lapides Judaici," are looked upon, when dissolved in the juice of lemons, as an approved medicine for curing the stone and gravel,—a specific, we may presume; which, after the fashion of many others, operates upon the body through the power of the imagination.[190]
The miserable condition of ignorance and neglect into which every thing connected with industry has fallen under the Turkish government, prevents us from obtaining any information in regard to the mineral stores of that country, "whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayst dig brass." Volney indeed relates, that ores of the former metal abound, in the mountains of Kesraoun and of the Druses, in other words, in the extensive range of which Libanus is the principal member. Every summer the inhabitants work those mines which are simply ochreous. There is a vague report in the district, that there was anciently a vein of copper near Aleppo, but it must have been long since abandoned. It was also mentioned to the traveller, when among the Druses, that a mineral was discovered which produced both lead and silver; though, as such a discovery would have ruined the whole district by attracting the attention of the Turks, they made haste to destroy every vestige of it. A similar feeling prevails respecting precious stones,—the branch of mineralogy which first gains the attention of a rude people. From the geological character of the Syrian mountains, there is no doubt that Palestine might boast of the topaz, the emerald, the chryso-beryl, several varieties of rock-crystal, and also of the finer jaspers. The Sacred Writings prove that the Jews were acquainted with a considerable variety of ornamental stones, as may be seen in the description of the mystical city in the book of Revelation, of which "the twelve gates were twelve pearls." But the present inhabitants of Canaan, regardless of the natural wealth with which the hills and the valleys abound, trust to violence for the means of luxury, and to the most unprincipled extortion and robbery for their accustomed revenue. From them, therefore, neither knowledge nor elegance can ever be expected to receive any attention.
SECTION II.—METEOROLOGY.
Under this head we include the usual properties of the atmosphere which minister to health and vegetation, for it has been justly remarked that Syria has three climates. The summits of Libanus, for instance, covered with snow, diffuse a salubrious coolness in the interior; the flat situations, on the contrary, especially those which stretch along the line of the coast, are constantly subjected to heat, accompanied with great humidity; while the adjoining plains of the desert are scorched by the rays of a burning sun. The seasons and the productions, of course, undergo a corresponding variation. In the mountains the months of spring and summer very nearly coincide with those in the southern parts of Europe; and the winter, which lasts from November till March, is sharp and rigorous. No year passes without snow, which often covers the surface of the ground to the depth of several feet during many weeks. The spring and autumn are agreeable, and the summer by no means oppressive. But in the plains, on the other hand, as soon as the sun has passed the equator, a sudden transition takes place to an overpowering heat, which continues till October. To compensate for this, however, the winter is so temperate that orange-trees, dates, bananas, and other delicate fruits grow in the open field. Hence, we need hardly observe that a journey of a few hours carries the traveller through a succession of seasons, and allows him a choice of climate, varying from the mild temperature of France to the blood-heat of India, or the pinching cold of Russia.
The winds in Palestine, as in all countries which approach the tropics, are periodical, and governed in no small degree by the course of the sun. About the autumnal equinox, the north-west begins to blow with frequency and strength. It renders the air dry, clear, and sharp; and it is remarkable that on the seacoast it causes the headache, like the north-east wind in Egypt. We may further observe, that it usually blows three days successively, like the south and south-east at the other equinox. It continues to prevail till November, that is, about fifty days, when it is followed by the west and south-west, called by the Arabs "the fathers of rain." In March arise the pernicious winds from the southern quarter, with the same circumstances as in Egypt; but they become feebler as we advance towards the north, and are much more supportable in the mountains than in the low country. Their duration at each return varies from twenty-four hours to three days. The easterly winds, which come next in order, continue till June, when they are commonly succeeded by an inconstant breeze from the north. At this season the wind shifts through all the points every day, passing with the sun from east to south, and from south to west, to return by the north and recommence the same circuit. At this time, too, a local wind, called the land-breeze, prevails along the coast during the night; it springs up after sunset, lasts till the appearance of the solar orb in the morning, and extends only a few leagues to sea.
Travellers have observed that thunder, in the lowlands of Palestine as well as in Egypt, is more common during the winter than in summer; while in the mountains, on the contrary, it is more frequent in the latter season, and very seldom heard in the former. In both these countries it happens oftenest in the rainy season, or about the time of the equinoxes, especially the autumnal; and it is further remarkable that it never comes from the land side, but always from the sea. These storms, too, generally speaking, take place either in the evening or morning, and rarely in the middle of the day. They are accompanied with violent showers of rain, and sometimes of uncommonly large hail, which, soon covering the face of the country with stagnant water, give rise to a copious evaporation.
The phenomenon alluded to by the prophet Elijah is still found to diversify the aspect of the eastern sky. Volney remarks, that clouds are sometimes seen to dissolve and disperse like smoke; while on other occasions they form in an instant, and from a small speck increase to a prodigious size. This is particularly observable at the summit of Lebanon; and mariners have usually found that the appearance of a cloud on this peak is an infallible presage of a westerly wind, one of the "fathers of rain" in the climate of Judea.[191]
Waterspouts are not unfrequent along the shores of Syria, and more especially in the neighbourhood of Mount Carmel. Those observed by Dr. Shaw appeared to be so many cylinders of water falling down from the clouds; though by the reflection it might be of these descending columns, or from the actual dropping of the fluid contained in them, they would sometimes, says he, appear at a distance to be sucked up from the sea. The theory of waterspouts in the present day does in fact admit the supposition here referred to; that the air, being rarefied by particular causes, has its equilibrium restored by the elevation of the water, on the same principle that mercury rises in the barometer, or the contents of a well in a common pump. The opinions of the learned traveller on this subject are extremely loose and unscientific, and are only valuable in our times as marking a certain stage in the progress of meteorological inquiry.
The same author has recorded a fact which we have not observed in the pages of any other tourist. In travelling by night, in the beginning of April, through the valleys of Mount Ephraim, he was attended for more than an hour by an ignis fatuus that displayed itself in a variety of extraordinary appearances. It was sometimes globular, and sometimes pointed like the flame of a candle; then it spread itself so as to involve the whole company in its pale inoffensive light; after which it contracted, and suddenly disappeared. But in less than a minute it would begin again to exert itself as at other times, running along from one place to another with great swiftness, like a train of gunpowder set on fire; or else it would expand itself over more than two or three acres of the adjacent mountains, discovering every shrub and tree that grew upon them. The atmosphere from the beginning of the evening had been remarkably thick and hazy; and the dew, as felt upon the bridles, was unusually clammy and unctuous. In such weather similar luminous bodies are observed skipping about the masts and yards of ships, and are called by the mariners corpusanse, a corruption of the cuerpo santo, or sacred body, of the Spaniards. The same were the Castor and Pollux of the ancients. Some writers have attempted to account for these phenomena, particularly for the ignis fatuus, by supposing it to be occasioned by successive swarms of flying glowworms, or other insects of the same nature. But, as Dr. Shaw observes, not to perceive or feel any of these insects, even when the light which they produce spreads itself around us, should induce us to explain both this appearance and the other on the received principle that they are actually meteors, or a species of natural phosphorus.[192]