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'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [‎115r] (234/738)

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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RELIGION
223
made of brass, and ordinarily covered with a cloth. Their
chief feast is said to be celebrated in the month of April.
Orders of priests are enumerated to the number of five, or
according to some seven ; the political head of the com
munity, called Amir or Khallfah, enjoys with the chief
Sheikh the highest priestly prerogatives. A class of priests
called qawwals, or speakers, are the musicians at the annual
festivals ; another class, called faqlrs, .discharge the menial
duties at the Yezidi shrines ; their dress is a black or dark-
brown tunic of coarse cloth, reaching to the knee, and tight-
fitting, with a black turban, bound by a red handkerchief.
Among the ideas represented by their practices are rever
ence for the sun, and for water ; they have numerous sacred
springs, and are said to propitiate these by lighting lamps near
them, and throwing coins into the,waters. They also taboo
the use of fish as food ; as, too, of lettuce and cabbage ; and
disapprove of wearing garments coloured blue. Wednesday
as well as Friday counts with them as a sacred day, and on
these days marriage is prohibited. The number of wives
permitted to the ordinary Yezidi is six.
Older Cults
The attention of numerous travellers has been directed to
relics of old religious systems which have survived the whole
sale conversion of the inhabitants of these regions to newer
beliefs, and are to some extent shared by all natives, being
forbidden only by Protestants. Such are the visits paid to the
tombs of various saints, who at times at least represent
transformations of older objects of worship, and whose
ability to procure certain objects of desire is not only widely
believed in these regions, but has prevailed over the scepticism
of some western travellers. The older cults are also perpetuated
in the practice of sacrifice, used to solemnize various occasions
in life ; it survives especially among the nomads, but few
of the older communities reject the practice altogether.
The Moslem name for ‘ saint ’ is weli (plural aidiya), and the
shrine of such a personage is called maqdm and mazdr or

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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' [‎115r] (234/738), 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_100033282270.0x000023> [accessed 20 December 2024]

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