"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [ظ‎‎٢‎٠‎٤] (٧٣٨/٤١٣)

402 RIVER SYSTEMS OF NORTHERN SYRIA
winds through sandflats between low banks and finally
passes over a difficult bar into the Bay of Antioch where
it is about 200 yds. wide and 12 ft. deep. The current is
strong, and after floods the river mouth frequently changes
its position. Between Antioch and the sea the river falls
300 ft. in a course of 21 miles, or crowfly distance of only
13J miles. The total course of the river is about 170 miles.
It is navigable in winter for 3 miles from the sea for
vessels of 100 tons and, if the fish weirs and rocks were
removed from its bed, it could be made navigable for track-
boats as far as Antioch. There is a cable-ferry at the mouth
and others at points 1^, 5, 8f, and 12£ miles upstream.
Floods depend almost entirely upon the rains which com
mence towards the beginning of November, after which
there is a gradual and tolerably regular increase until the
snow falls early in January. The water afterwards diminishes
until the melting of the snow in April; in May the water is
at its highest, and the subsequent fall continues till November.
At times the spates are sudden and considerable, but in general,
owing to the inundations over the lake basins and marshes
of El-Ghab, the changes of level are gradual and regular
throughout the year. The water of the river is utilized for
irrigation only to a limited extent.
Nahr Lltdni (N. el-Qdsimlyeh).
This is the third largest river in Syria. The true source is
on the low watershed running westward from Ba‘albek near
the mound Tell Barada, in a muddy oval pool from which in
summer there is only an almost imperceptible trickle. One
of the most remote affluents has its source in a large spring
at the base of the tell on which stands the village of Ma‘ra-
bun ; this stream flows southwards through a single-arched
bridge, Jisr er-Rummaneh, beyond which it turns westwards
into W. Yafufeh, receiving an affluent from a large spring
in W. Sarghaya. In this latter wadi, about 1 mile S. of
the village of Sarghaya and lying across a plain 1 mile in
width, is the watershed separating the waters of Yafufeh