There is one tributary of the Orontes which deserves a cursory mention.  This is the Kara Su, or “Black River,” which reaches it from the Aga Denghis, or Bahr-el-Abiyad, about five miles below Jisr Hadid and four or five above Antioch.  This stream brings into the Orontes the greater part of the water that is drained from the southern side of Amanus.  It is formed by a union of two rivers, the upper Kara Su and the Afrin, which flow into the Aga Denghis (White Sea), or Lake of Antioch, from the north-west, the one entering it at its northern, the other at its eastern extremity.  Both are considerable streams; and the Kara Su on issuing from the lake carries a greater body of water than the Orontes itself, and thus adds largely to the volume of that stream in its lower course from the point of junction to the Mediterranean.

The Litany, or river of Tyre, rises from a source at no great distance from the head springs of the Orontes.  The almost imperceptible watershed of the Buka’a runs between Yunin and Baalbek, a few miles north of the latter; and when it is once passed, the drainage of the water is southwards.  The highest permanent fountain of the southern stream seems to be a small lake near Tel Hushben, which lies about six miles to the south-west of the Baalbek ruins.  Springing from this source the Litany flows along the lower Buka’a in a direction which is generally a little west of south, receiving on either side a number of streamlets and rills from Libanus and Anti-libanus, and giving out in its turn numerous canals for irrigation, which fertilize the thirsty soil.  As the stream descends with numerous windings, but still with the same general course, the valley of the Buka’a contracts more and more, till finally it terminates in a gorge, down which thunders the Litany—­a gorge a thousand feet or more in depth, and so narrow that in one place it is actually bridged over by masses of rock which have fallen from the jagged sides.  Narrower and deeper grows the gorge, and the river chafes and foams through it, gradually working itself round to the west, and so clearing a way through the very roots of Lebanon to the low coast tract, across which it meanders slowly, as if wearied with its long struggle, before finally emptying itself into the sea.  The course of the Litany may be roughly estimated at from 70 to 75 miles.

The Barada, or river of Damascus, rises in the plain of Zebdany—­the very centre of the Antilibanus.  It has its real permanent source in a small nameless lake in the lower part of the plain, about lat. 33 deg. 41’; but in winter it is fed by streams flowing from the valley above, especially by one which rises in lat. 33 deg. 46’, near the small hamlet of Ain Hawar.  The course of the Barada from the small lake is at first towards the east; but it soon sweeps round and flows-southward for about four miles to the lower end of the plain, after which it again turns to the east and enters a romantic glen, running