"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [و‎‎٣‎٣‎٣] (٧٣٨/٦٧٠)

THE GHOR
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Much of the middle Ghor is cultivated by the people of
various villages of Samaria, and a great part of the eastern
side was at one time cultivated by the natives of ‘Ajlun who
were afterwards crowded out by the extension of the Sultan’s
estates—the Jiftlilc Hamayuni. These state farms covered
a considerable total area and both Fahil and Arba‘In
were administrative centres under the mudir of Beisan, who
was the chief administrator of the Ghdr. There are other
state farms in the neighbourhood of Jisr Banat Ya‘qub and
also in southern Ghor. Although improvements were intro
duced and some experiments made, little progress appears to
have resulted in developing these lands; they are farmed out
to the natives of the .Ghor and cultivated on the metayer
system (see Chap. VI, p. 249 f.).
Both the plain of Beisan and that of Jericho are con
sidered to have great agricultural possibilities, given well-
directed irrigation and good administration. In the former,
flax was abundantly grown in the Roman period ; maize and
rice were cultivated in crusading and later times. Towards
Jericho date-palm groves stretched for miles and gardens of
balsam were farmed by the Roman government. Before and
during the Crusades, sugar-cane was cultivated, and remains
of the sugar mills still exist. Of existing irrigation canals in
the Ghdr, two, each 4^ miles long, run south from W. el-
‘Arab to Z5r el-Basha and water a tract which produces
two- and three-fold crops. Several copious springs on the
west side of Lake Huleh, the chief of which is ‘Ain el-Mellahah,
supply water for irrigating the plain there. With proper
irrigation there is no region where results would be swifter
or richer than in these fertile tracts of the Ghor. Although
the climate in summer is unsuitable for Europeans, it is quite
possible for negroes.
Inhabitants
Very few Bedouin live continuously in the Ghor. The
effect of the climate is shown in the sickly and degenerate
appearance of those who are more particularly confined to
Tt 2