Syria: An Economic Survey 



the Arabs the bedouin and effendis use horses, the fellaheen 

 donkeys. It is estimated that a donkey can carry 110-220 Ibs. ; a 

 mule, 220-330 pounds, and a camel 440-660 pounds. Donkeys and 

 camels cover 19-25 miles in an 8-10 hour day, mules 25-37 miles. 

 It is estimated that no less than 180,000 loaded camels come into 

 Alexandretta in the course of the year. 



D. Total Freight Receipts. 



At an approximate estimate the total freight receipts of Syria 

 accruing from the transportation of goods, etc. (to which must be 

 added the receipts from sea-born traffic and transfer), amount to 

 45,000,000 francs. 



E. Expressage and Warehouses. 



There are no large express companies in Syria. Expressage 

 is in the hands of business men in the ports, who neither under- 

 take to transport goods direct to far distant points nor offer suffi- 

 cient safety. The dispatch business consists mainly in transporting 

 people and freight from the steamships to the shore and vice versa, 

 by means of small rowboats. Storage warehouses are quite un- 

 developed. It is only in Beirut and Haifa that there are steam 

 cranes. Beirut possesses the only modern storage warehouse. The 

 other cities have nothing but primitive sheds, and in the large wheat 

 centers of Hauran the grain lies outdoors absolutely unprotected. 



V. Tourists. 



The tourists who visit Syria may be classed as follows: 



(a) Business men and officials on government business. 



(b) Egyptians who spend their summers in the Lebanon. 



(c) Jewish tourists who visit Palestine. 



(d) European and American tourists who visit Syria and 

 especially Palestine, in the course of a trip to the Orient. 



(e) Christian pilgrims who visit Palestine. 



(f) Mohammedan pilgrims who travel to Medina via 

 Haifa or Damascus. 



The first three classes include from several hundred to a 

 thousand people each, the fourth class from 6,000 to 7,000 people. 

 The Christian pilgrims, estimated according to the number of pas- 

 sengers on the Jaffa-Jerusalem line, number about 20,000 annually, 

 the Mohammedan pilgrims travelling on the Hejaz Eailway number 



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