"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [ظ‎‎٢‎٧‎٨] (٧٣٨/٥٦١)

550
GALILEE
carp. Almost all the fish are caught by means of nets, of which
there are three kinds—the cast-net, draw-net, and mubatten, the
latter a compound form of net composed of various sizes of mesh
peculiar to this locality ; the old-fashioned method of poison
ing the fish first and then collecting them is also sometimes
resorted to. The Tiberias fishermen are quite a class by
themselves and are fine stalwart men, mostly Moslems, with
a few Christians; the business is hereditary in certain
families and the nets are made and mended by the women of
their households. From Lake Tiberias the fish is carried fresh
to Safed (where there is the greatest demand), Nazareth and
other places in Galilee ; it is also dried and salted for the
Damascus and Jerusalem markets. From Lake Huleh and ‘Ain
el-Mellahah the fresh fish is sent to Safed, Merj ‘Ayun, and
even Damascus, and salted fish to Zahleh and other places
in the Lebanon. During summer, fresh fish cannot be sent
far from the lakes : most of it from all sources goes to Safed
in this .season. The average price of the best fish in Safed is
about 4d. per lb., but cat-fish, which is always cheaper, may
be purchased at one-third the price when it is plentiful.
The Government tax on all fish taken from Lake Tiberias and
the adjoining Jordan is one-fifth. Like most taxes in Palestine,
it is farmed out and the ‘ashshdr, or tax-collector, pays
£T. 1,000 every three years for his right of taking one-
fifth of all fish caught. The fishing rights of Batihah are
owned by a pasha in Damascus, and a Jew of Safed paid
200 napoleons annually for the exclusive control of all the
fishing there. The Lake Huleh and ‘Ain el-Mellahah fishing
rights are under the jiftlik and are let annually to a Christian
for 260 napoleons.
Trade
Nearly all the exterior trade of Galilee finds its inlet and
outlet at Haifa, q. v. Samaria, pp. 492 ff. ‘Akka, considered
formerly a port of some importance in relation to Syrian
trade, is now eclipsed commercially by the Samarian port
and has practically no direct foreign trade. Up to 1906