Section I.--Geology.

At first view it would appear that the ridges of Palestine are all a ramification of Mount Taurus. But the proper Syrian chain begins on the south of Antioch, at the huge peak of Casius, which shoots up to the heavens its tapering summit, covered with thick forests. The same chain, under various names, follows the direction of the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, at no greater distance, generally speaking, than twenty-four miles from its waters. Mount Libanus forms its most elevated summit. At length it is divided into two branches, of which the one looks westward to the sea, the other, which bounds the Plain of Damascus, verges in the direction of the desert and the banks of the Euphrates. Hermon, whose lofty top condenses the moisture of the atmosphere, and gives rise to the dews so much celebrated in the Sacred Writings, stands between Heliopolis and the capital of Syria. The latter ridge received from the Greeks the denomination of Anti-Libanus,--a name unknown among the natives, and which, being employed somewhat arbitrarily by historians and topographers, has occasioned considerable obscurity in their writings.

The hills in this part of Syria are composed of a calcareous rock having a whitish colour, is extremely hard, and which rings in the ear when smartly struck with a hammer. The same description applies to the masses that surround Jerusalem, which on the one hand stretch to the River Jordan, and on the other extend to the Plain of Acre and Jaffa. Like all limestone strata, they present a great number of caverns, to which, as places of retreat, frequent allusion is made in the books of Samuel and of the Kings. There is one near Damascus, capable of containing four thousand men; and it must have been in a similar recess that David and his men encountered the ill-fated Saul when pursued by him on the hills of the wild goats.

The mountains that skirt the Valley of the Dead Sea present granite and those other rocks which, according to the system of Werner, characterize the oldest or primitive formation. Mount Sinai is a member of the same group, and exhibits mineral qualities of a similar nature, extending to a certain distance on both sides of the Arabian Gulf. It is probable that this region, at a remote epoch, was the theatre of immense volcanoes, the effects of which may still be traced along the banks of the Lower Jordan, and more especially in the lake itself. The warm baths at Tabaria show that the same cause still exists, although much restricted in its operation,--an inference which is amply confirmed by the lavas, the bitumen, and pumice which continue to be thrown ashore by the waves of Asphaltites.

Dr. Clarke remarks, that in the neighborhood of Cana there are several basaltic appearances. The extremities of columns, prismatically formed, penetrated the surface of the soil, so as to render the path very rough and unpleasant. These marks of regular or of irregular crystallization generally denote, according to his opinion, the vicinity of water lying beneath their level. The traveller, having passed over a series of successive plains, resembling in their gradation the order of a staircase, observes, as he descends to the inferior stratum upon which the water rests, that where rocks are disclosed the symptoms of crystallization have taken place, and then the prismatic configuration is commonly denoted basaltic. Such an appearance, therefore, in the approach to the Lake of Tiberias is only a parallel to similar phenomena exhibited by rocks near the Lakes of Locarno and Bolsenna in Italy, by those of the Wenner Lake in Sweden, by the bed of the Rhine near Cologne in Germany, by the Valley of Ronca in the territory of Verona, by the Pont de Bridon in the state of Venice, and by numerous other examples in the same country. A corresponding effect is produced on a small scale on the southern declivity, of Arthur Seat, near Edinburgh, where the hill overhangs the Lake of Duddingstone; and numerous other instances are known to occur in the islands which lie between the coast of Ireland and Norway, as well as Spain, Portugal, Arabia, and India.

When these crystals have obtained a certain regularity of structure, the form is often hexagonal, or six-sided, resembling particular kinds of spar, and the emerald. Patrin, during his travels in the deserts of Oriental Tartary, discovered when breaking the Asiatic emerald, if fresh taken from the matrix, not only the same alternate concave and convex fractures which sometimes characterize the horizontal fissures of basaltic pillars, but also the concentric layers which denote concretionary formation: It is hardly possible to have a more striking proof of coincidence, resulting from similarity of structure, in two substances otherwise remarkably distinguished from each other. In this state science remains at present, concerning an appearance in nature which exhibits nothing more than the common process of crystallization upon a larger scale than has usually excited attention. Suffice it to remark, that such a phenomenon is very frequent in the vicinity of very ancient lakes, in the bed of all considerable rivers, or by the borders of the ocean.

In a country where there are so many traces of volcanic action, the rocks of the lower levels cannot fail to bear marks of their origin. Hasselquist relates, that the Hill of Tiberias, out of which issues the fountain whence the baths are supplied, consists of a black and brittle sulphurous stone, which is only to be found in large masses in the neighborhood, though it is commonly met with in rolled specimens on the shores of the Dead Sea, and in other parts of the valley. The sediment deposited by the water is also black, as thick as paste, smells strongly of sulphur, and is covered with two skins or cuticles, of which the lower is of a fine dark-green, and the uppermost of a light rusty colour. At the mouth of the outlet, where the stream formed little cascades over the stones, the first cuticle alone was found, and so much resembled a conferva, that one might have taken it for a vegetable production; but nearer the river, where the current became stagnant, both skins were visible, the yellow on the surface, and under it the green.

There are observed, in the same hollow, small portions of quartz incrusted with an impure salt, and nodules of clay extremely compact. Near the edge of the valley there lie scattered on the sand considerable portions of flinty slate; and amid the common clay, which forms the basis of the soil, are perpendicular layers of a lamellated brown argil, assuming, as it were, the slaty structure. Dr. Clarke noticed among the pebbles near the Lake of Tiberias pieces of a porous rock resembling the substance called toadstone in England; its cavities were filled with zeolite. Native gold was likewise found there, but the quantity was so small as not to draw from the travellers a suitable degree of attention.

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.

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.

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.