'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎533] (624/905)

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CHAPTER XXI.
climate, productions, people, and social state
OF
SYRIA.
Climate. Soil,' Surface.—Minerals.—Animal and Vegetable Productions.—
Imports.—Exports.—Ancient Divisions.—Ancient People, Religions, &c.—
Ansdnes, Syrians and Assassins, Hebrews, Arabs, Armenians, Mitaulis,
Maronites, Druses, Kurds, Turkomans, Turks, and Fellahs—Administration
of Justice.—Tenures of Property.—Taxes.—Customs.—Avanias ; Social
State of the People.—Population.
Owing to its mountains, Syria, which is generally considered three kinds of
to be a warm country, has, on the contrary, especially in the tem P erature -
central parts, almost every variety of temperature, sometimes
within the short space of one day's journey; and the climate
is in consequence very trying to the European constitution.
In those tracts which are most peopled there are three kinds
of temperature, viz., the cold, the warm and humid, and the
warm and dry.
The first belongs to the country between the higher slopes climate of the
of the Lebanon range and the mountains on whose summits "°™ taino " s
lies perpetual snow : throughout this tract a sharp winter,
like that of the north of Germany, is experienced from the end
of October to April, when a comparatively mild spring succeeds;
this is followed almost immediately by the powerful heat of
summer, and by the rapid growth of the vine, the white mul
berry, the olive-tree, the cotton-plant, &c.
The second embraces the slopes adjoining the coast of the climate of the
Mediterranean, together with the adjacent plains of Akka, coast "
Tripoli, Baalbek, Antioch, Beirut, and Tyre ; also those in
the interior, such as Esdraelon, part of Persea, the western
side of Damascus, the valley of the Jordan, &c., in which