PART FOUR. 



OTHER BRANCHES OF PRIMARY PRODUCTION. 

 I. Forestry. 



The destruction of Syrian forests has been going on steadily, 

 especially in the coastal regions, the vicinity of cities, and wherever 

 good roads or railways permit the transportation of lumber. The 

 war has added to this destructive process, as wood has been used 

 in the place of coal. But the worst enemy of forests are the herds 

 of sheep and goats. 



The forests of Syria consist for the most part of firs and oaks. 

 Besides, there are cypresses, cedars, carob trees, pistachios, sumachs 

 (in Trans j or dania), poplars, and plane-trees in the neighborhood 

 of waterfalls. 



The fir trees grow to a considerable height, whereas the oak 

 trees are stunted. In the Jewish colonies, the eucalyptus tree, 

 imported from Australia thirty years ago, has been used for the 

 drainage of marshes, especially in Hudeirah (31 miles north of 

 Jaffa). Though practically none of the Syrian wood is suitable 

 for building purposes, it can be used for rough hewn beams, posts, 

 props, etc. Finer woods must be imported. Therefore, most of 

 the Syrian wood is used for fuel, part of it being made into char- 

 coal. The eucalyptus trees in Palestine furnish props for the young 

 orange trees. 



II. Fishery and Game. 



Fishery in the Mediterranean is carried on by means of small 

 sail-boats. Not only are the waters of the Syrian coast not rich in 

 fish, but in winter there are severe storms, and in summer it is too 

 hot to transport the fish any distance. The streams and lakes, for 

 instance the lakes of Tiberias, Huleh, and Antioch, are rich in 

 comestible fish which may be caught with rods, nets, or dynamite. 

 As there has heretofore been no means of transportation nor any 

 factories for putting up the fish the catch has been limited to local 

 needs. In some years the price of a kilogram of fish of the Lake 

 of Tiberias is only one piastre ; usually it is about 14 cents. 



Fish smoking was recently introduced on a small scale by 

 a Jew in Haifa, who used sea fish for the purpose. Formerly 

 sponges were gathered to a considerable extent along the Syrian 

 coast, but not in the last decades, as the divers emigrated to America. 



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