Climate of Phoenicia--Varieties--Climate of the coast, in
the south, in the north--Climate of the more elevated
regions--Vegetable productions--Principal trees--Most
remarkable shrubs and fruit-trees--Herbs, flowers, and
garden vegetables--Zoology--Land animals--Birds--Marine and
fresh-water fish--Principal shell-fish--Minerals.
The long extent of the Phoenician coast, and the great difference in the
elevation of its various parts, give it a great diversity of climate.
Northern Phoenicia is many degrees colder than southern; and the
difference is still more considerable between the coast tracts and the
more elevated portions of the mountain regions. The greatest heat
is experienced in the plain of Sharon,[21] which is at once the most
southern portion of the country, and the part most remote from any
hills of sufficient elevation to exert an important influence on the
temperature. Neither Carmel on the north, nor the hills of Samaria
on the east, produce any sensible effect on the climate of the Sharon
lowland. The heat in summer is intense, and except along the river
courses the tract is burnt up, and becomes little more than an expanse
of sand. As a compensation, the cold in winter is very moderate. Snow
scarcely ever falls, and if there is frost it is short-lived, and does
not penetrate into the ground.[22]
Above Carmel the coast tract is decidedly less hot than the region south
of it, and becomes cooler and cooler as we proceed northwards. Northern
Phoenicia enjoys a climate that is delightful, and in which it would be
difficult to suggest much improvement. The summer heat is scarcely ever
too great, the thermometer rarely exceeding 90º of Fahrenheit,[23] and
often sinking below 70º. Refreshing showers of rain frequently fall, and
the breezes from the north, the east, and the south-east, coming from
high mountain tracts which are in part snow-clad, temper the heat of the
sun’s rays and prevent it from being oppressive. The winter temperature
seldom descends much below 50º; and thus the orange, the lemon and the
date-palm flourish in the open air, and the gardens are bright with
flowers even in December and January. Snow falls occasionally, but it
rarely lies on the ground for more than a few days, and is scarcely ever
so much as a foot deep. On the other hand, rain is expected during the
winter-time, and the entire line of coast is visited for some months
with severe storms and gales, accompanied often by thunder and violent
rain,[24] which strew the shore with wrecks and turn even insignificant
mountain streams into raging torrents. The storms come chiefly from the
west and north-west, quarters to which the harbours on the coast are
unfortunately open.[25] Navigation consequently suffers interruption;
but when once the winter is past, a season of tranquillity sets in, and
for many months of the year--at any rate from May to October[26]--the
barometer scarcely varies, the sky is unclouded, and rain all but
unknown.
As the traveller mounts from the coast tract into the more elevated
regions, the climate sensibly changes. An hour’s ride from the plains,
when they are most sultry, will bring him into a comparatively cool
region, where the dashing spray of the glacier streams is borne on the
air, and from time to time a breeze that is actually cold comes down
from the mountain-tops.[27] Shade is abundant, for the rocks are often
perpendicular, and overhand the road in places, while the dense foliage
of cedars, or pines, or walnut-trees, forms an equally effectual screen
against the sun’s noonday rays. In winter the uplands are, of course,
cold. Severe weather prevails in them from November to March;[28] snow
falls on all the high ground, while it rains on the coast and in the
lowlands; the passes are blocked; and Lebanon and Bargylus replenish the
icy stories which the summer’s heat has diminished.
The vegetable productions of Phoenicia may be best considered under the
several heads of trees, shrubs, herbs, flowers, fruit-trees, and garden
vegetables. The chief trees were the palm-tree, the sycamore, the
maritime pine, and the plane in the lowlands; in the highlands the
cedar, Aleppo pine, oak, walnut, poplar, acacia, shumac, and carob. We
have spoken of the former abundance of the palm. At present it is found
in comparatively few places, and seldom in any considerable numbers.
It grows singly, or in groups of two or three, at various points of the
coast from Tripolis to Acre, but is only abundant in a few spots more
towards the south, as at Haifa, under Carmel, where “fine date-palms”
are numerous in the gardens,[29] and at Jaffa, where travellers remark
“a broad belt of two or three miles of date-palms and orange-groves
laden with fruit.”[210] The wood was probably not much used as timber
except in the earliest times, since Lebanon afforded so many kinds of
trees much superior for building purposes. The date-palm was also valued
for its fruit, though the produce of the Phoenician groves can never
have been of a high quality.
The sycamore, or sycamine-fig, is a dark-foliaged tree, with a gnarled
stem when it is old;[211] it grows either singly or in clumps, and much
more resembles in appearance the English oak than the terebinth does,
which has been so often compared to it. The stem is short, and sends
forth wide lateral branches forking out in all directions, which renders
the tree very easy to climb. It bears a small fig in great abundance,
and probably at all seasons, which, however, is “tasteless and
woody,”[212] though eaten by the inhabitants. The sycamore is common
along the Phoenician lowland, but is a very tender tree and will not
grow in the mountains.
The plane-tree, common in Asia Minor, is not very frequent either in
Phoenicia or Palestine. It occurs, however, on the middle course of the
Litany, where it breaks through the roots of Lebanon,[213] and also
in many of the valleys[214] on the western flank of the mountain. The
maritime pine (_Pinus maritama_) extends in forests here and there along
the shore,[215] and is found of service in checking the advance of
the sand dunes, which have a tendency to encroach seriously on the
cultivable soil.
Of the upland trees the most common is the oak. There are three species
of oak in the country. The most prevalent is an evergreen oak (_Quercus
pseudococcifera_), sometimes mistaken by travellers for a holly,
sometimes for an ibex, which covers in a low dense bush many miles of
the hilly country everywhere, and occasionally becomes a large tree
in the Lebanon valleys,[216] and on the flanks of Casius and Bargylus.
Another common oak is _Quercus Ægilops_, a much smaller and deciduous
tree, very stout-trunked, which grows in scattered groups on Carmel and
elsewhere, “giving a park-like appearance to the landscape.”[217] The
third kind is _Quercus infectoria_, a gall-oak, also deciduous, and very
conspicuous from the large number of bright, chestnut-coloured,
viscid galls which it bears, and which are now sometimes gathered for
exportation.[218]
Next to the oak may be mentioned the walnut, which grows to a great size
in sheltered positions in the Lebanon range, both upon the eastern and
upon the western flank;[219] the poplar, which is found both in the
mountains[220] and in the low country, as especially about Beyrout;[221]
the Aleppo pine (_Pinus halepensis_), of which there are large woods in
Carmel, Lebanon, and Bargylus,[222] while in Casius there is an
enormous forest of them;[223] and the carob (_Ceratonia siliqua_), or
locust-tree, a dense-foliaged tree of a bright lucid green hue, which
never grows in clumps or forms woods, but appears as an isolated tree,
rounded or oblong, and affords the best possible shade.[224] In the
vicinity of Tyre are found also large tamarisks, maples, sumachs, and
acacias.[225]
But the tree which is the glory of Phoenicia, and which was by far
the most valuable of all its vegetable productions, is, of course, the
cedar. Growing to an immense height, and attaining an enormous girth,
it spreads abroad its huge flat branches hither and thither, covering a
vast space of ground with its “shadowing shroud,”[226] and presenting
a most majestic and magnificent appearance. Its timber may not be of
first-rate quality, and there is some question whether it was really
used for the masts of their ships by the Phoenicians,[227] but as
building material it was beyond a doubt most highly prized, answering
sufficiently for all the purposes required by architectural art, and
at the same time delighting the sense of smell by its aromatic odour.
Solomon employed it both for the Temple and for his own house;[228] the
Assyrian kings cut it and carried it to Nineveh;[229] Herod the Great
used it for the vast additions that he made to Zerubbabel’s temple;[230]
it was exported to Egypt and Asia Minor; the Ephesian Greeks constructed
of cedar, probably of cedar from Lebanon, the roof of their famous
temple of Diana.[231] At present the wealth of Lebanon in cedars is not
great, but the four hundred which form the grove near the source of the
Kadisha, and the many scattered cedar woods in other places, are to
be viewed as remnants of one great primeval forest, which originally
covered all the upper slopes on the western side, and was composed, if
not exclusively, at any rate predominantly, of cedars.[232] Cultivation,
the need of fuel, and the wants of builders, have robbed the mountain
of its primitive bright green vest, and left it either bare rock or
terraced garden; but in the early times of Phoenicia, the true Lebanon
cedar must undoubtedly have been its chief forest tree, and have stood
to it as the pine to the Swiss Alps and the chestnut to the mountains of
North Italy.
Of shrubs, below the rank of trees, the most important are the lentisk
(_Pistachia lentiscus_), the bay, the arbutus (_A. andrachne_), the
cypress, the oleander, the myrtle, the juniper, the barberry, the styrax
(_S. officinalis_), the rhododendron, the bramble, the caper plant, the
small-leaved holly, the prickly pear, the honeysuckle, and the jasmine.
Myrtle and rhododendron grow luxuriantly on the flanks of Bargylus, and
are more plentiful than any other shrubs in that region.[233] Eastern
Lebanon has abundant scrub of juniper and barberry;[234] while on the
western slopes their place is taken by the bramble, the myrtle, and the
clematis.[235] The lentisk, which rarely exceeds the size of a low
bush, is conspicuous by its dark evergreen leaves and numerous small red
berries;[236] the arbutus--not our species, but a far lighter and more
ornamental shrub, the _Arbutus andrachne_--bears also a bright red
fruit, which colours the thickets;[237] the styrax, famous for yielding
the gum storax of commerce, grows towards the east end of Carmel, and is
a very large bush branching from the ground, but never assuming the
form of a tree; it has small downy leaves, white flowers like orange
blossoms, and round yellow fruit, pendulous from slender stalks, like
cherries.[238] Travellers in Phoenicia do not often mention the caper
plant, but it was seen by Canon Tristram hanging from the fissures
of the rock, in the cleft of the Litany,[239] amid myrtle and bay and
clematis. The small-leaved holly was noticed by Mr. Walpole on the
western flank of Bargylus.[240] The prickly pear is not a native
of Asia, but has been introduced from the New World. It has readily
acclimatised itself, and is very generally employed, in Phoenicia, as in
the neighbouring countries, for hedges.[241]
The fruit-trees of Phoenicia are numerous, and grow most luxuriantly,
but the majority have no doubt been introduced from other countries,
and the time of their introduction is uncertain. Five, however, may be
reckoned as either indigenous or as cultivated at any rate from a remote
antiquity--the vine, the olive, the date-palm, the walnut, and the fig.
The vine is most widely spread. Vineyards cover large tracts in the
vicinity of all the towns; they climb up the sides of Carmel, Lebanon,
and Bargylus,[242] hang upon the edge of precipices, and greet the
traveller at every turn in almost every region. The size of individual
vines is extraordinary. “Stephen Schultz states that in a village
near Ptolemaïs (Acre) he supped under a large vine, the stem of which
measured a foot and a half in diameter, its height being thirty feet;
and that the whole plant, supported on trellis, covered an area of fifty
feet either way. The bunches of grapes weighed from ten to twelve pounds
and the berries were like small plums.”[243] The olive in Phoenicia
is at least as old as the Exodus, for it was said of Asher, who was
assigned the more southern part of that country--“Let him be acceptable
to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.”[244] Olives at the
present day clothe the slopes of Lebanon and Bargylus above the vine
region,[245] and are carried upward almost to the very edge of the bare
rock. They yield largely, and produce an oil of an excellent
character. Fine olive-groves are also to be seen on Carmel,[246] in the
neighbourhood of Esfia. The date-palm has already been spoken of as
a tree, ornamenting the landscape and furnishing timber of tolerable
quality. As a fruit-tree it is not greatly to be prized, since it is
only about Haifa and Jaffa that it produces dates,[247] and those of no
high repute. The walnut has all the appearance of being indigenous in
Lebanon, where it grows to a great size,[248] and bears abundance
of fruit. The fig is also, almost certainly, a native; it grows
plentifully, not only in the orchards about towns, but on the flanks of
Lebanon, on Bargylus, and in the northern Phoenician plain.[249]
The other fruit-trees of the present day are the mulberry, the
pomegranate, the orange, the lemon, the lime, the peach, the apricot,
the plum, the cherry, the quince, the apple, the pear, the almond, the
pistachio nut, and the banana. The mulberry is cultivated largely on
the Lebanon[250] in connection with the growth of silkworms, but is not
valued as a fruit-tree. The pomegranate is far less often seen, but it
is grown in the gardens about Saida,[251] and the fruit has sometimes
been an article of exportation.[252] The orange and lemon are among
the commonest fruits, but are generally regarded as comparatively late
introductions. The lime is not often noticed, but obtains mention in the
work of Mr. Walpole.[253] The peach and apricot are for the most part
standard trees, though sometimes trained on trellises.[254] They were
perhaps derived from Mesopotamia or Persia, but at what date it is quite
impossible to conjecture. Apples, pears, plums, cherries, quinces,
are not unlikely to have been indigenous, though of course the present
species are the result of long and careful cultivation. The same may be
said of the almond and the pistachio nut. The banana is a comparatively
recent importation. It is grown along the coast from Jaffa as far
north as Tripolis, and yields a fruit which is said to be of excellent
quality.[255]
Altogether, Phoenicia may be pronounced a land of fruits. Hasselquist
says,[256] that in his time Sidon grew pomegranates, apricots, figs,
almonds, oranges, lemons, and plums in such abundance as to furnish
annually several shiploads for export, while D’Arvieux adds to this list
pears, peaches, cherries, and bananas.[257] Lebanon alone can furnish
grapes, olives, mulberries, figs, apples, apricots, walnuts, cherries,
peaches, lemons, and oranges. The coast tract adds pomegranates, limes,
and bananas. It has been said that Carmel, a portion of Phoenicia,
is “the garden of Eden run wild;”[258] but the phrase might be fitly
applied to the entire country.
Of herbs possessing some value for man, Phoenicia produces sage,
rosemary, lavender, rue, and wormwood.[259] Of flowers she has an
extraordinary abundance. In early spring (March and April) not only the
plains, but the very mountains, except where they consist of bare rock,
are covered with a variegated carpet of the loveliest hues[260] from
the floral wealth scattered over them. Bulbous plants are especially
numerous. Travellers mention hyacinths, tulips, ranunculuses, gladioli,
anemones, orchises, crocuses of several kinds--blue and yellow and
white, arums, amaryllises, cyclamens, &c., besides heaths, jasmine,
honeysuckle, clematis, _multiflora_ roses, rhododendrons, oleander,
myrtle, astragalus, hollyhocks, convolvuli, valerian, red linum,
pheasant’s eye, guelder roses, antirrhinums, chrysanthemums, blue
campanulas, and mandrakes. The orchises include “_Ophrys atrata_, with
its bee-like lip, another like the spider orchis, and a third like the
man orchis;”[261] the cyclamens are especially beautiful, “nestling
under every stone and lavish of their loveliness with graceful tufts of
blossoms varying in hue from purest white to deepest purple pink.”[262]
The multiflora rose is not common, but where it grows “covers the banks
of streams with a sheet of blossom;”[263] the oleanders fringe their
waters with a line of ruby red; the mandrake (_Mandragora officinalis_)
is “one of the most striking plants of the country, with its flat disk
of very broad primrose-like leaves, and its central bunch of dark blue
bell-shaped blossom.”[264] Ferns also abound, and among them is the
delicate maidenhair.[265]
The principal garden vegetables grown at the present day are melons,
cucumbers, gourds, pumpkins, turnips, carrots, and radishes.[266] The
kinds of grain most commonly cultivated are wheat, barley, millet, and
maize. There is also an extensive cultivation of tobacco, indigo, and
cotton, which have been introduced from abroad in comparatively modern
times. Oil, silk, and fruits are, however, still among the chief
articles of export; and the present wealth of the country is
attributable mainly to its groves and orchards, its olives, mulberries,
figs, lemons, and oranges.
The zoology of Phoenicia has not until recently attracted very much
attention. At present the list of land animals known to inhabit it
is short,[267] including scarcely more than the bear, the leopard or
panther, the wolf, the hyæna, the jackal, the fox, the hare, the wild
boar, the ichneumon, the gazelle, the squirrel, the rat, and the mole.
The present existence of the bear within the limits of the ancient
Phoenicia has been questioned,[268] but the animal has been seen in
Lebanon by Mr. Porter,[269] and in the mountains of Galilee by Canon
Tristram.[270] The species is the Syrian bear (_Ursus syriacus_), a
large and fierce beast, which, though generally frugivorous, will under
the presser of hunger attack both men and animals. Its main habitat is,
no doubt, the less accessible parts of Lebanon; but in the winter it
will descend to the villages and gardens, where it often does much
damage.[271] The panther or leopard has, like the bear, been seen by
Mr. Porter in the Lebanon range;[272] and Canon Tristram, when visiting
Carmel, was offered the skin of an adult leopard[273] which had probably
been killed in that neighbourhood. Anciently it was much more frequent
in Phoenicia and Palestine than it is at present, as appears by the
numerous notices of it in Scripture.[274] Wolves, hyænas, and jackals
are comparatively common. They haunt not only Carmel and Lebanon, but
many portions of the coast tract. Canon Tristram obtained from Carmel
“the two largest hyænas that he had ever seen,”[275] and fell in with
jackals in the vicinity.[276] Wolves seem to be more scarce, though
anciently very plentiful.
The favourite haunts of the wild boar (_Sus scrofa_) in Phoenicia are
Carmel[277] and the deep valleys on the western slope of Lebanon. The
valley of the Adonis (Ibrahim) is still noted for them,[278] but, except
on Carmel, they are not very abundant. Foxes and hares are also somewhat
rare, and it is doubtful whether rabbits are to be found in any part of
the country;[279] ichneumons, which are tolerably common, seem sometimes
to be mistaken for them. Gazelles are thought to inhabit Carmel,[280]
and squirrels, rats, and moles are common. Bats also, if they may be
counted among land-animals, are frequent; they belong, it is probable,
to several species, one of which is _Xantharpyia ægyptiaca_.[281]
If the fauna of Phoenicia is restricted so far as land-animals are
concerned, it is extensive and varied in respect of birds. The list
of known birds includes two sorts of eagle (_Circaëtos gallicus_ and
_Aquila nævioïdes_), the osprey, the vulture, the falcon, the kite, the
honey-buzzard, the marsh-harrier, the sparrow-hawk, owls of two kinds
(_Ketupa ceylonensis_ and _Athene meridionalis_), the grey shrike
(_Lanius excubitor_), the common cormorant, the pigmy cormorant
(_Græculus pygmæus_), numerous seagulls, as the Adriatic gull (_Larus
melanocephalus_), Andonieri’s gull, the herring-gull, the Red-Sea-gull
(_Larus ichthyo-aëtos_), and others; the gull-billed tern (_Sterna
anglica_), the Egyptian goose, the wild duck, the woodcock, the Greek
partridge (_Caccabis saxatilis_), the waterhen, the corncrake or
landrail, the coot, the water-ouzel, the francolin; plovers of three
kinds, green, golden, and Kentish; dotterels of two kinds, red-throated
and Asiatic; the Manx shearwater, the flamingo, the heron, the common
kingfisher, and the black and white kingfisher of Egypt, the jay,
the wood-pigeon, the rock-dove, the blue thrush, the Egyptian
fantail (_Drymoeca gracilis_), the redshank, the wheat-ear (_Saxicola
libanotica_), the common lark, the Persian horned lark, the cisticole,
the yellow-billed Alpine chough, the nightingale of the East (_Ixos
xanthopygius_), the robin, the brown linnet, the chaffinch; swallows of
two kinds (_Hirundo cahirica_ and _Hirundo rufula_); the meadow
bunting; the Lebanon redstart, the common and yellow water-wagtails, the
chiffchaff, the coletit, the Russian tit, the siskin, the nuthatch,
and the willow wren. Of these the most valuable for the table are the
partridge, the francolin, and the woodcock. The Greek partridge is “a
fine red-legged bird, much larger than our red-legged partridge, and
very much better eating, with white flesh, and nearly as heavy as a
pheasant.”[282] The francolin or black partridge is also a delicacy;
and the woodcock, which is identical with our own, has the same delicate
flavour.
The fish of Phoenicia, excepting certain shell-fish, are little
known, and have seldom attracted the attention of travellers. The
Mediterranean, however, where it washes the Phoenician coast, can
furnish excellent mullet,[283] while most of the rivers contain
freshwater fish of several kinds, as the _Blennius lupulus_, the
_Scaphiodon capoëta_, and the _Anguilla microptera_.[284] All of these
fish may be eaten, but the quality is inferior.
On the other hand, to certain of the shell-fish of Phoenicia a great
celebrity attaches. The purple dye which gave to the textile fabrics
of the Phoenicians a world-wide reputation was prepared from certain
shell-fish which abounded upon their coast. Four existing species have
been regarded as more or less employed in the manufacture, and it seems
to be certain, at any rate, that the Phoenicians derived the dye from
more shell-fish than one. The four are the _Buccinum lapillus_ of
Pliny,[285] which is the _Purpura lapillus_ of modern naturalists; the
_Murex trunculus_; the _Murex brandaris_; and the _Helix ianthina_. The
Buccinum derives its name from the form of the shell, which has a
wide mouth, like that of a trumpet, and which after one or two twists
terminates in a pointed head.[286] The _Murex trunculus_ has the same
general form as the Buccinum; but the shell is more rough and spinous,
being armed with a number of long thin projections which terminate in a
sharp point.[287] The _Murex brandaris_ is a closely allied species, and
“one of the most plentiful on the Phoenician coast.”[288] It is
unlikely that the ancients regarded it as a different shell from _Murex
trunculus_. The _Helix ianthina_ has a wholly different character. It is
a sort of sea-snail, as the name _helix_ implies, is perfectly smooth,
“very delicate and fragile, and not more than about three-quarters of an
inch in diameter.”[289] All these shell-fish contain a _sac_ or bag
full of colouring matter, which is capable of being used as a dye. It
is quite possible that they were all, more or less, made use of by the
Phoenician dyers; but the evidence furnished by existing remains on
the Tyrian coast is strongly in favour of the _Murex brandaris_ as the
species principally employed.[290]
The mineral treasures of Phoenicia have not, in modern times, been
examined with any care. The Jura limestone, which forms the substratum
of the entire region, cannot be expected to yield any important mineral
products. But the sandstone, which overlies it in places, is “often
largely impregnated with iron,” and some strata towards the southern end
of Lebanon are said to produce “as much as ninety per cent. of pure iron
ore.”[291] An ochrous earth is also found in the hills above Beyrout,
which gives from fifty to sixty per cent. of metal.[292] Coal, too, has
been found in the same locality, but it is of bad quality, and does not
exist in sufficient quantity to form an important product. Limestone,
both cretaceous and siliceous, is plentiful, as are sandstone, trap and
basalt; while porphyry and greenstone are also obtainable.[293] Carmel
yields crystals of quarts and chalcedony,[294] and the fine sand about
Tyre and Sidon is still such as would make excellent glass. But the main
productions of Phoenicia, in which its natural wealth consisted, must
always have been vegetable, rather than animal or mineral, and have
consisted in its timber, especially its cedars and pines; its fruits,
as olives, figs, grapes, and, in early times, dates; and its garden
vegetables, melons, gourds, pumpkins, cucumbers.