Note 20 — Chapter V
Reading edition
This is due to the fact that where these forests occur, in Gilead for example, the mountains to the west break down, so that the west winds with water from the Mediterranean are able to reach the inner range without having lost all their water. It is one of the misfortunes of Syria that its mountains generally rise so close to the sea that they shut off rainfall from the interior and cause the rain to fall on slopes too steep for easy cultivation.