CHAPTER LI: Conquests By The Arabs .-- Part V.
Syria, one of the countries that have been improved by the most early cultivation, is not unworthy of the preference.

The heat of the climate is tempered by the vicinity of the sea and mountains, by the plenty of wood and water; and the produce of a fertile soil affords the subsistence, and encourages the propagation, of men and animals.

From the age of David to that of Heraclius, the country was overspread with ancient and flourishing cities: the inhabitants were numerous and wealthy; and, after the slow ravage of despotism and superstition, after the recent calamities of the Persian war, Syria could still attract and reward the rapacious tribes of the desert.

A plain, of ten days' journey, from Damascus to Aleppo and Antioch, is watered, on the western side, by the winding course of the Orontes.

The hills of Libanus and Anti-Libanus are planted from north to south, between the Orontes and the Mediterranean; and the epithet of _hollow_ (Clesyria) was applied to a long and fruitful valley, which is confined in the same direction, by the two ridges of snowy mountains.