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'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [284v] (573/738)
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.
562
haurAn and JAULAN
by providing artificial catchments for torrents and surface
drainage, but the great possibilities of this system have not
been exploited.
El-Leja, 1 the refuge lies NE. of the plain and, seen
at a distance, from the W. it looks like a low blue plateau.
It is a ‘ lava sea ’ about 350 miles in area, roughly oval in
shape with its greater axis lying N. and S. ; its clearly
marked edges' rise abruptly from the plain to a height
of 20 to 30 ft. The ‘ sea ’ sends out a multitude of sharp
and rugged promontories and everywhere on the plain below
there are thick scatters of basalt boulders, masses of fallen
rock, and elevated outcrops. The eastern side is marked by
W. Luwa, while the greater part of the southern side is bordered
by W. el-Qanawat; both wadis are dry in summer.
In general, El-Leja is a barren tract spread around extinct
craters, which has been riven into deep chasms, conical
peaks, and confused masses of rock. Several of these peaks
rise to a considerable height the most prominent being
Tell el-Amara, alt. 2,825 ft. The eastern and central portions
have a more uniform surface than the western, while the
outer portions are less rocky than the interior. In the vicinity
of Damet el-‘Aliyeh it is a labyrinth of deep and inaccessible
crevasses and overhanging cliffs. A considerable number of
trees, chiefly dwarf oak and terebinth, subsist among the
rocks of the interior but very few are to be found elsewhere.
Areas of fertile soil occur in the depressions which in the
winter retain the water, and in spring and early summer
produce pasture and grain crops. Authorities differ as to
the existence of perennial water, but it seems clear that
some springs do exist. At Qirata, Merrill reports that ‘ there
is a large fountain of excellent water which is full of fish.’
There is also a spring of excellent water west of Mesmiyeh,
and several springs along the northern border between ShaTeh
and Mesmiyeh which send out a small stream to W. Luwa. The
numerous cisterns and open reservoirs of antiquity are still used
for rain-water storage; during dry summers the inhabitants
are often forced out into the plain in search of water.
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