PART SEVEN. 

 TRAFFIC AND TRANSPORTATION. 



I. Harbors. 



The only good harbor on the Syrian coast is that of Beirut, 

 which was built by a French company. The gross profits amounted 

 to 586,593 francs in 1896 and to 1,038,695 francs in 1909. Second 

 class harbors with regular steamer traffic are : Jaffa, Tripoli, Alex- 

 andretta, Haifa, Latakia, and Sidon. All these harbors have only 

 open roadsteads. Frequently winds render them unapproachable. 

 The following third class harbors have no regular steamer traffic: 

 Gaza, Caesarea, Acre, Tyre, Juni, Jebull, Tarsus, Banias and 

 Suediah. In the grain season steamers call at Acre and Gaza. 

 Unfortunately, as the town of Gaza is about 4 kilometers from the 

 shore and there is no connecting road, loads must be carried through 

 the deep sand on camels. The other harbors have none but sail 

 boat traffic. 



As the sea is rather shallow along the Syrian coast, steamers 

 are forced to anchor from one-half a mile to a mile from the shore, 

 except in Beirut. In all the harbors the ships must pay dues for 

 health and light house service, in Beirut for use of the harbor as 

 well. Every harbor is under the jurisdiction of a harbor master 

 and a customs official. 



From a technical standpoint there does not seem to be any 

 great difficulty in the way of building the harbors of Alexandretta, 

 Haifa, and Jaffa. The building of the harbor of Alexandretta, 

 which is protected from winds and waves by nature, was begun in 

 1912 by the Bagdad Railway, but interrupted by the outbreak of 

 the war. 



The harbor of Jaffa presents greater difficulties than the other 

 two, for as it is quite unprotected it will be necessary to build 

 moles quite far out to sea. A plan has been broached to fill in the 

 sea 109.3 yards out, as far as the famous and much feared reefs, or 

 perhaps still further out, in order to gain valuable land for quays 

 and to decrease the labor of dredging. The government has already 

 had the harbor surveyed. The cost of building the harbor is esti- 

 mated at 15-20 million francs. According to a report of the 

 Austrian Consul in Haifa, made in 1912, the building of the harbor 



73 



