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'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [287r] (578/738)
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.
PHYSICAL SURVEY OF HAURAN
567
while it affords every facility to skirmishers and precludes
the possibility of acting with large bodies of the line. During
winter, troops cannot live in it without good barracks, and
during summer they are enervated by heat and scarcity of
water. To subdue and retain Hauran it will be necessary
to establish several strong and active garrisons in well-
appointed fortresses and then to construct military roads
through the wildest districts ; were this done, the country
would soon become the granary and garden of Syria.’ He
also discusses the attitude of the Druses towards conscription:
apart from an inherent objection to any form of restraint
imposed by the Turks, they plead the impossibility of providing
men for Imperial purposes, while at the same time protecting
their homes from the Bedouin hordes against whom they
wage constant warfare.
Captain Murphay, Service Gazette, 1911, writes: "In the
expedition against the Druses in 1910, the Turks concentrated
at Der‘a a force of 21,000 men of all arms. The Druses
concentrated only about 2,000 men and were defeated after
a weak defence, the chief feature of which was a partially
successful raid on the line of communications at Der‘a, fighting
having been on a line El-Kufr—Qanawat—Shuhbah. I he
Turks are reported to have left an army of occupation of
4,000 mounted men with head-quarters at Bosrah; they also
“ announced their intention of rebuilding the barracks at
Suweida and repairing the roads in Hauran which are ex
tremely bad ” \
Physical Survey of Jaulan
This district forms part of a great plateau which is known
as Hauran in the broadest sense of that word. Lying over
against the northern section of the Jordan valley, El-Ghbr,
it covers an area of about 560 sq. miles. The boundaries
are clearly defined by the slopes of Hermon on the N.; the
Jordan and Lake of Galilee on the W. ; Nahr el-'Allan with
the upper reaches of Nahr er-Ruqqad on the E. ; and the
gorge of Yarmuk on the S.
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