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'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [226v] (457/738)
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.
446 JUDAEA AND THE SOUTHERN DESERT
Rain is rare in May and September both in the plain and
in the mountain country, and almost totally absent in the
intervening months. The most rainy months in both localities
are December and January. The highest fall of rain for any
month recorded at Jaffa, during the years 1904-13, was
12| ins., during December 1911.
Winds.—For direction of prevalent winds, see Chap. II,
Table XXII, pp. 74 ff.
Hail and snow.—During most winters hail and snow fall on
the Judaean hills. The former is common and is often mingled
with rain and accompanied by thunderstorms which happen
at intervals through the winter and are frequent in spr ing .
On the Central Range snow has been known to reach a depth
of nearly 2 ft. and to lie for 5 days or even more, and the
pools at Jerusalem have sometimes been covered with ice ;
but this is rare, the ground seldom freezes and snow usually
disappears in a day.
Natural Products
Minerals. —Judaea, like southern Syria in general, is poorer
in mineral than in any other resources and, as far as is known,
there are practically no metalliferous deposits. Good building
stone is plentiful in the hill regions ; a very hard reddish
limestone, used much in decorative work, is quarried round
Bethlehem. In the marly strata of some parts of the Ghdr
sulphur is found and is used by the Bedouin for making
powder. Bitumen or bituminous stone la found in layers
or in loose blocks around Nebi Musa, W. Mahawat, and in
the Dead Sea Ghor, especially the former. Wor kin g for
bitumen would probably be profitable around the Dead Sea ;
drilling was already being conducted at the outbreak of war.
A kind of bituminous limestone known as hajar musa is in
demand at Bethlehem for making vases and other vessels of
ornament. There are gypsum and phosphate deposits in
certain parts of the Desert of J udaea, but they are unexploited,
chiefly owing to the difficulties of transport. Oil has been
found near Khirbet Khuweis south-east of Kurmul, in the
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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.
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- 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