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'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [50v] (105/738)
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. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
94
MINERALS, FLORA, AND FAUNA
were extracted daily from the mines of south Lebanon and
30-40 tons from others in north Lebanon. In the lignite
and tar-coal of Lebanon a yellowish fossil resin, like amber,
is found. No coal has yet been discovered in Palestine.
Bitumen is found in the Dead Sea area, {a) in chalk forma
tions, (6) in the alluvial and diluvial soil, (c) in the sea itself ;
but it has not yet been systematically exploited. The chief
localities are
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Sebbeh south-west of Masada, and
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Mahawat west of Jebel Usdum; the latter place is the most
important, and here the deposits could easily be worked.
The Bedouin regularly collect the bitumen from the Dead
Sea shores (about 2,000 kilograms per annum), which is of
extremely good quality and readily sells at 50 shillings per
100 kilograms. Bitumen is also obtained in middle Syria,
especially at Suq el-Khan near Hasbeya ; these deposits are
worked profitably and produce about 380 tons annually.
Also, in northern Syria, it is obtained at Kefriyeh on the
Ladiqlyeh-Jisr esh-Shughr road and at Bir Baseit.
Bituminous limestone, locally known as hajar Musa (Moses
stone), is found at Nebi Musa near the Jerusalem-Jericho
carriage-road; also near Safed, and in northern ‘Ajlun. It
provides a gas and an oil by a process of dry distillation
and the stone is also used for making mosaics and small
articles such as vases, crosses, beads, &c.
Fluid asphalt is still produced from the ancient pits at
Hasbeya and Yahmur; most of that from Hasbeya is ex
ported, the amount, in 1911, being 75 tons. It is also
obtained at ‘Ain et Tineh, near Damascus, which takes all
this supply ; and also near Ladiqiyeh.
Petroleum exists south-west of Alexandretta, but costly
borings undertaken by a company of Basle, in 1889, led to
little success. Borings near Ladiqiyeh also revealed the
existence of oil. The geological formation of the Dead Sea
area makes the existence of petroleum springs highly probable
and the reports of travellers confirm this. In 1884, Schu
macher found a petroleum spring at Tell el-Jamid near the
village of El-Quseir or Eqseir (Yarmuk valley, not far from
About this item
- 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 View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/MIL/17/16/15
- Title
- 'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919'
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:366v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence