the table-land of Armenia. The south buttress of the table-land is Mount Taurus. Armenia is a tableland which rises into the air to the height of about 11 miles; and its highest point is the famous mountain, Mount Ararat. . . The chief river-basin of Asiatic Turkey is the joint basin of the Euphrates and Tigris 3. Syria.-Syria-the coast of which is called the Levant is a long narrow strip of seaboard, with ranges of mountains, broken by long valleys which run from north to south. It contains three areas of continental drainage the area of Aleppo, that of Damascus, and that of the Jordan basin. The Jordan flows through a valley most of which is sunk below the level of the Mediterranean. The waters of the Sea of Galilee are nearly 700 feet below the Mediterranean level; those of the Dead Sea nearly 1300 feet. The great saltness of the Dead Sea is due to a ridge of rock-salt which runs along its southern shore, and which is about 300 feet high, seven miles long, and half a mile wide. . . The peninsula of Sinai, which projects into the Red Sea, contains Jebel Musa, the modern name for Mount Sinai, a mountain nearly 8000 feet high. 4. Chief Towns. (i) The largest towns in Asiatic Turkey are Smyrna and Damascus. Smyrna, with 150,000 inhabitants, at the head of the Gulf of Smyrna, is the Liverpool of the Levant. Its streets are narrow and dirty; but its spacious and well-stored bazaars are filled with every kind of European manufacture. Damascus, the chief town in Syria, stands on a high tableland, at the foot of the mountain-range called the AntiLebanon. It is the chief town in Syria, and is thought to be the most ancient city in the world. It is watered by the Abana and Pharpar, lucid streams; was once famous for the swords called "Damascus blades"; but is now a seat of commerce and of the manufacture of silk goods... Beyrout is the port of Damascus, though a hundred miles away. Jerusalem, which stands on a high plateau, about thirty miles from the Mediterranean, and fifteen from the Dead Sea, is the most famous city in the world. The Arabs call it the Holy City. It has neither industries nor commerce; and any prosperity it has is due to the crowds of pil grims, Christian, Jewish, and Mo hammedan, who of Mohammedan at Prayer. visit the Holy Places, towards which the hearts and eyes many millions are daily turned. 5. Chief Towns.-(ii) Bagdad, on the Tigris, is a city of ancient fame, for it was long the capital of the Kaliphs of the great Saracen Empire. This city was once the most brilliant capital of the Moslem world; and is everywhere spoken of in the Arabian Nights.' But now -though it has a caravan trade with Damascus and Aleppo-the gates are in ruins, by the roads stand piles of rubbish and cesspools, while dogs and vultures and carrion-crows feed on the putrid carcasses that lie strewn on the path of the traveller... In Arabistan—the stan or country of the Arabs-which is also called Turkish Arabia, are two cities which are sacred in the thoughts and dear to the hearts of every good Mussulman. They are the port of Medina, which contains the tomb of Mohammed; and Mecca, which is still more sacred, as being the birthplace of the prophet. 6. The Islands.-Cyprus, the largest island in the Levant, is now under the protection of Great Britain.. Rhodes, a small island with forest-clad mountains, rich meadows, lovely and fertile valleys, and an excellent climate, is called "the gem of the Levant." Its port was once famous for a high brazen statue, called the Colossus of Rhodes, between the legs of which the tallest ships sailed into the world-famed harbour... There are in the Ægean many other islands which belong to Turkey. spa'-cious, large and roomy. lu'-cid, clear and bright. (L. lux, light.) man-u-fac'-ture, the making of goods by hand. (L. manus, a hand ; facère, to make.) pu'-trid, rotten. car-cass-es, dead bodies. 1. Levant', the land of the rising sun. (L. levāre, to raise.) 2. Continental drainage, part of a country the rivers of which have no connection with the ocean. 3. Rock-salt. In many parts there are whole hills of rock-salt; and in Europe there are several very large mines in which the salt is dug out, as coal or iron is. 4. Kaliphs of the Saracen Empire. The Saracens came from Central Asia and overran the west of Asia and east of Europe; their kings were called Kaliphs. 5. Mohammed, the great prophet whose followers are spread over the whole of Western Asia. He was the founder of the Mohammedan religion. 6. Colossus. Anything beyond ordinary size is called from this colossal. 22.-ARABIA AND PERSIA. 1. Arabia.-Arabia is a high table - land, most of which is a desert. It forms, indeed, part of the great belt of deserts which runs In Arabian Coffee-Tree and Fruit. gusts or puffs of wind come up suddenly and with vio lence; the horizon quickly darkens to the hue of deep violet; the whole sky becomes black, and seems to close in like curtains; while at the same time a hot and stifling blast- -as if from an oven-blows steadily under the thick gloom. The camels of the caravan lie as if dead, their muzzles buried in the sand; the men wrap up their heads and lie upon their faces. The worst heat of the simoom lasts for about ten minutes; and it is as if a red-hot iron were slowly passed over the body. But the simoom itself may blow for several hours. When it is past, the travellers rise, half dead with exhaustion, and as pale as corpses. This terrible wind does not always carry sand or dust; but it sometimes drives along such terrible columns of sand that they have been known to bury large caravans, and even great armies. 3. Productions of Arabia.-The most valuable plants are the date-palms, of which there are more than a hundred different kinds. They grow in all the oases, and supply, in fact, the chief staple of food. Excellent coffee, too, grows in the south-west, and is exported from Mocha; while all kinds of medicinal plants-such as myrrh, balsam, and senna-have been supplied by Arabia to the markets of the world for ages. The finest fruits-such as peaches, apricots, and figs are also grown in the south-west; while cotton is cultivated in the south-east. 4. The Arabs. The people of Arabia may be divided into two classes: the Arabs, or settled inhabitants of the towns and villages; and the Bedouins (or Bedwins)-the wanderers who feed their flocks in the open pastures of the plain or in the oases of the desert. The genuine Arab is a noblelooking man, of middle height, spare but muscular, and of dark-brown complexion. He is by birth and education a Mohammedan. The Bedouin is the same wild herdsman |