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'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [‎228v] (461/738)

The record is made up of 1 volume (365 folios). It was created in 1919. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .

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450 JUDAEA AND THE SOUTHERN DESERT
The outstanding products of the plains are cereals (barley,
wheat, dhura), sesame, oranges, grapes, almonds, melons, and
vegetables. Here the areas under cultivation are much more
extensive than on the hills, especially around Gaza and Jaffa ;
but even so it should be borne in mind that, at present, the
greater part of the plain lies untilled and is given over largely
to natural vegetation (wild grasses and grains, succulent plants
and hosts of wild flowers), affording merely pasturage for cattle,
very little of which, however, lasts through the summer.
Agriculture is carried on, on modern scientific lines, only
at the various Colonies (Jewish and German). For details
of the culture and products of the Jewish centres, see I.D. 1203. 1
For the German Colonies, see p. 192 and p. 512.
The principal areas of cultivation, where native methods
still prevail, are the following :
(1) Gaza district. The main winter crop between Rafah
and Mej del and extending inland almost to Beersheba, where
the soil is light and will not bear wheat so profitably, is barley ;
comparatively little barley is grown in the rest of Palestine.
Gaza barley is specially characterized as ‘ long, curved, tender,
and very white in colour unless it has been touched by rain
The success of the crop depends almost entirely on the early
spring rains of March and April and in a good year it is esti
mated that as much as 40,000 tons are available for export.
The barley of Gaza is the first to appear on the market and
is therefore in great demand. The summer crop of Gaza is
dhura, sown early in May but requiring a good deal more
preparation of the soil, and this crop is the mainstay of the
people. But few dry vegetables (lentils, horse-beans, &c.)
are produced in the Gaza district; but, around the town,
there are many large orchards and green vegetable gardens,
all under irrigation by the nd‘urah. The orchards are said
to produce more pomegranates than any other locality, but
few oranges are grown ; there are also extensive olive groves.
The palms in the Gaza district are poor and the crop not
1 The Jewish Colonies in Palestine (1882-1914), compiled by the Admiralty
Naval Staff Intelligence Department, January, 1919.

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Content

Admiralty handbook regarding Syria (including Palestine) 'to as far north as the River Orontes and a line Antioch-Aleppo-Meskeneh. For details of the part of Syria beyond this line reference must be made to the Handbook of Asia Minor , Vol. iv, Part 2 (C.B. 847 C).'

'Contents. Chapters:

  • I. Boundaries and Physical Survey, p 9 (folio 7)
  • II. Climate, p 24 (folio 14v)
  • III. Minerals, Flora and Fauna, p 93 (folio 50)
  • IV. Military History, p 109 (folio 58)
  • V. Inhabitants, p 175 (folio 91)
  • VI. Turkish Administration, p 236 (folio 121v)
  • VII. Agriculture, p 252 (folio 129v)
  • VIII. Industry and Trade, p 276 (folio 141v)
  • IX. Currency, Weights and Measures, p 318 (folio 162v)
  • X. Jebel Ansarīyeh, p 325 (folio 166)
  • XI. Country East of Jebel Ansarīyeh, p 344 (folio 175v)
  • XII. Lebanon, Anti-Lebanon, and Damascus Plain, p 357 (folio 182)
  • XIII. River Systems of Northern Syria, p 395 (folio 201)
  • XIV. Judea and the Southern Desert, p 427 (folio 217)
  • XV. Samaria (including Carmel), p 472 (folio 239v)
  • XVI. Galilee, p 515 (folio 261)
  • XVII. Haurān and Jaulān, p 556 (folio 281v)
  • XVIII. 'Ajlūn and Northern Belqa, p 580 (folio 293v)
  • XIX. Southern Belqa and Ardh el-Kerak, p 612 (folio 309v)
  • XX. El-Jibāl and Esh-Shera, p 636 (folio 321v)
  • XXI. The Ghōr (Jordan and the Dead Sea); and Wādi 'Arabah, p 645 (folio 326)
  • Appendix: Conventional Spellings, p 668 (folio 337v)
  • Index, p 669 (folio 338)
  • Plates, p 725' [missing]
Extent and format
1 volume (365 folios)
Arrangement

The volume contains a contents page (folio 6) and an index (folios 338-365).

Physical characteristics

Foliation: the foliation sequence commences at the front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 367; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. Pagination: the volume also contains an original printed pagination sequence. The volume originally contained fourteen plates showing maps, bound into the back of the volume. These are now missing; details of the plates can be found at folio 5v.

Written in
English in Latin script
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'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [‎228v] (461/738), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/MIL/17/16/15, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100033282271.0x00003e> [accessed 29 March 2024]

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