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'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [176v] (357/738)
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.
346 COUNTRY EAST OF JEBEL ANSARlYEH
the Kuwaik Su just south of Aleppo, beyond which the low
ridge of J. el-Hass runs south-eastward into the desert.
Standing out south-east of this ridge, is J. Shebit, a small
isolated hill rising from the desert plain. Enclosed within
these mountain groups is the great cultivable plain, its
fertility diminishing as it merges into the desert which spreads
eastward in arid expanses of plains and mountains to the
Euphrates valley. Throughout the whole region the only
wooded areas consist of unimportant groups of trees. In the
district of Hama there are poplar plantations along the
banks of the Orontes.
The parallel ridges of J. el-'Ala, and J. Bdrisheh, (E.), run
north and south and are partly separated by
Wadi
A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows.
Hattan.
The rocky and bare formation is limestone with steep
and rugged sides, from which the soil has been washed
by winter rains and torrents through deep chasms to the
valleys and marshes below; only small pockets of arable
land here and there remain. The whole group covering an
area of about 12 by 10 miles, rises from the plain on all sides
except the NE. where the foothills merge into J. Halaqah.
Taken as a whole, these mountains are higher and far more
rugged than J. Riha, there are fewer villages, and the cultivated
areas are more scanty; being almost waterless and barren,
the population is small and poor. Numerous ruins of exten
sive ancient cities and settlements with many cisterns and
innumerable oil and wine presses testify to a prosperity and
productiveness which has long since disappeared.
The elongated ridge of J. el-‘Ala extends due N. and S. for
a distance of 10 miles, rising to an alt. of 1,885 ft. at Ben Abil
on the northern verge, and having its highest peak, alt.
2,385 ft., towards the S. Unlike the other approaches
which are steep and difficult, that from El-‘Amq (Antioch
plain) is fairly easy, being difficult only because of the rifts
and chasms. The dividing valley, W. Hattan, falls towards
the N., and at its head is closed by highlands which unite the
twin ridges. Its rich red soil washed from the surrounding
slopes is extremely fertile and produces the greater part
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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'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [176v] (357/738), 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_100033282270.0x00009e> [accessed 5 April 2025]
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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