Identifier: cu31924095158964 (find matches)
Title: The universal geography : the earth and its inhabitants
Year: 1876 (1870s)
Authors: Reclus, Elisée, 1830-1905 Ravenstein, Ernest George, 1834-1913 Keane, A. H. (Augustus Henry), 1833-1912
Subjects: Geography
Publisher: London : J.S. Virtue & Co., Ltd.
Contributing Library: Cornell University Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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ied floras are found here concentrated in charmingcontrast. The oak and- walnut flourish by the side of the olive and cypress, whilethe apple overshadowing the fragrant rose-bush is itself sheltered by the taU palm.Of all the fruits cultivated in these productive gardens, the most highly prized arethe plums. Palmyka—Philadelphia—Petra. The village of Harmn-el-Awamid, lying east of Damascus, not far from thegreat Bahr-el-Ateibeh marsh, is said to have formerly been an important city, bybiblical commentators identified with that in which Abraham dwelt.f But stillfarther east, in the midst of the Hamad wilderness, must be sought the grand ruinsof antiquity. Tadmor, a chief station in the desert between Damascus and the • Approximate population of Damascus, according to religions: Sunnite Mussulmans, 125,000-Metualis, 4,000; Greek Christians, 7,000; United Greeks, 7,000 ; Syrian and other Christians, 3 000 •Jews, 6,000 ; Sundries, 8,000. Total, 160,000. t Mrs. Beke, Jacobs Flight.
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PALMYEA—PHILADELPHIA—PETEA. 405 Euphrates, has preserved the name by which it was known when iirst mentionedin history, at the time of Hiram and Solomon. The alternative designation ofPalmyra, unknown to the natives, is itself merely the Latin translation of Tadmor, City of Palms. But as a city it no longer exists, and the wretched hamlet whichhas succeeded it is concealed within the ruins of a temple, the entrance of which isnow closed at night against the marauding Bedouin. Yet even so late as the twelfthcentury, when visited by the traveller Benjamin of Tudela, it still contained aconsiderable population, including two thousand Jewish merchants. The city of Zenobia is no longer anything more than a narrow oasis approachedthrough the dry beds of wadys. The traveller is even obliged to make a provisionof water while crossing the intervening wastes. It would be impossible to under-stand the amazing development of Palmyra during the period when its empire wasspread over Syria, Asia

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