rr 



STRIA. 



on the table-bad of Judiea, The wine of the Libanus i* 

 quality. Zakkum and tons are grown in gardens. The 

 that are partly cultivated and partly grow wild 



SYRIA. 



783 



are-ereamor*, oarob*. Indian 6g, mulberry, and pitohio trees. The 

 mountain for-K where there are any, oonriit of cedar*, fin, and 

 I.IIM*. On the table-land* grow dwarf-oak*, which produce the beet 

 gall* known ; there are *l*o the anrol, the walnut, the arbutua, the 

 UorW, the terebinth, and *everal kindi of juniper*. A good deal of 

 mnmooy and mmaoh U gathered about Mount Libanua. 



The domestic animal* comprise hone*, cattle, awe*, sheep, and 

 goau. Kew honea are kept by the agricultural population ; but the 

 wandering tribe*, the Arab., the Turkmans, and Kurd*, pay great 

 attention to the breed of hone*. The Arabian horse* are noted for 

 beauty and ipeed. The number of cattle is comparatively small, and, 

 in a few place*, of small siie. The asses and mules are of a 



Urge breed, and they *erve a* substitutes for hones in the transport of 

 nod*. Sheep and goat* are very numerous. In Northern Syria that 

 MObe b kept which ha* the large broad tail. Camels are found 

 everywhere, even on Mount Libanus. BuffiUoes are only found ou 

 the MCrcout between Beyrut and Tarabloun, and in the Wady Ghab. 

 Thoa* which are kept on the sea-coast are large, and not inferior to 

 thoeeof Egypt. 



Among wild animals, jackal*, foxes, nd hysenas are frequent in 

 one part* of the desert mountains. There are bears on Mount 

 Libanu. and Antilibanus. Wolves are only found in the forests of 

 Alma Dagh. Wild boars are very numerous in many parts. Deer are 

 met with on the Alma Dagh and near Mount Tor, and in the desert 

 puts are several kinds of antelopes. In the mountains of the Bclka 

 the bouquetin (Copra ibex) is said to be very numerous. Hares and 

 porcupines abound, and the Dipva jerboa, is common in the southern 

 desert*. There are several varieties of eagles. Partridges and pigeons 

 abound in many parts, especially on Mount Libanus. In the moun- 

 tain* east of the Southern Valley there are immense numbers of a bird 

 called katta, which is considered to be the Tetrao Alkatta. Several 

 kind, of fish and shell-fish are found in the Mediterranean, but not in 

 large quantity ; bnt a considerable fishery is carried on Sin an inland 

 lake of the Ghab, where a fish, called black fish (Ifacropteranotui 

 nigtr), a so abundant, that annually, between October and January, 

 a gnat quantity is taken, cured, and sent to remote places. This fish 

 it from five to eight feet long. Fish are also very abundant in the 

 Bohbalre Lake. The tortoise occurs frequently on the table-land of 

 Judiea, and turtles in the Barrada. None of the snakes are considered 

 to be poisonous. Bee* are very abundant on Mount Libanus, whence 

 wax and honey are exported. The rearing of silk-worms is carried 

 on to a great extent on the mountainous tracts near the coast, and 

 silk constitutes the moit important article of export from Syria. The 

 locusts frequently by waste the fields : the Arabs eat them, and salt 

 them for food. There are no metals found in Syria except iron, which 

 b worked in the Kesrawan in Mar Hanna, south-east of Beyrut, where 

 abo coal ha* been discovered. Burckhardt found iron and quicksilver 

 at the western base of Jebel-es-Sheik. Salt is got from the lake called 

 El-Sabkh, and also from the sea-water of the Mediterranean. In the 

 Tyh-Beni- Israel, and at the southern extremity of the Dead Sea, there 

 are mountains almost entirely composed of rock-salt. Bitumen, or 

 uphaltum, b collected on the west shores of the Dead Sea. Tacitus 

 (' Hut,' v. 6) speaks of asphaltum being collected on the Dead Sea. 

 It constitute* an article of export. In the northern Ghor pieces of 

 native sulphur are found at a small depth beneath the surface. 



fn/iabttaoti. The population of Syria consists of agricultural and 

 nomadic tribes. Nearly all the Fellahs, as the agricultural population 

 of Syria is called, belong to one race, resembling in the structure of 

 their body the Beduin Arabs, and speaking also the Arabic language. 

 The Fellah* are divided, according to their religion, into Christians, 

 Jews, and Mohammedans. The Jews are numerous in Southern 

 Syria, west of the southern valley, but they are rarely found east of 

 that valley, or in the other parts of the province. They are most 

 numerous in the vicinity of the five holy cities Jerusalem, Tabarieh, 

 Safed, Nablous, and Khalil (Hebron). The Christians are found 

 everywhere. Even iu the Haouran the Christians constitute one- 

 fourth of the agricultural population. They are either of the Greek 

 Church or Roman Catholics. Among the Roman Catholics are 

 included all religious denomination* who acknowledge the authority 

 of the Holy See : the Latins, who use the Roman liturgy, and have 

 a patriarch at Jerusalem, and numerous convents there and in different 

 part* of the Holy Land ; the Melchites, or United Greeks, who have a 

 patriarch at Damascus, and eight suffragan bishops ; the Maronites, 

 who are Catholic., live exclusively on the wetern declivity of Mount 

 Joanna, in the Kesrawan, and are a very industrious people; the 

 United Armenian*, who have a patriarch at Bexumma in the Libanus, 

 and bUhop in Aleppo ; and the Syrians, or United Chaldeans, who 

 have a patriarch at Aleppo. The Maronites, who number about 

 40,000, have a patriarch at Kanobin, in the Kesrawan, and seven 

 suffragan bbbop*. 



There are abo three religions tccU In Syria which are neither 

 Christian* nor Mohammedan* the Druses, Anzeyries or Ansairians, 

 and the I.tnanllc*. The most powerful of them are the Dru*e, who 

 number about 30,000; they pay tribute to the Turkish pasha*, but 

 otherwise are independent, and their chief may be considered as the 



master of a great part of Mount Libanus, with the adjacent district* 

 of the Bekaa. The Anceyries, or Ansairians, inhabit the mountain 

 region which has received its name from them, and which lies between 

 the lower course of the Azy and the Mediterranean. They are like- 

 wise an industrious people. The Ismanlies are few in number, and 

 inhabit some village* in the mountains of the Anzeyry. They are 

 considered to be a remnant of the Assassins and Ismaelites. 



The nomadic tribe* consist of Arabs, who are dispersed over the 

 country as far north as 36 N. Int., and Turkmans and Kurds. The 

 Arab*, with the exception of the Annexe tribe, do not live exclusively 

 on the produce of their herds and flocks. They also cultivate small 

 spot* of ground, but they change their abode according to the season 

 and the growth of pasture, taking to the mountains in summer and 

 to the plains in winter and spring. There are some Metualis Moham- 

 medans of the sect of Ali in the southern part* of the Libanus and about 

 Baalbec. They are a settled people, and number about 30,000. They 

 oblige the settled agricultural portion of the population to pay them 

 a tribute for not laying waste their fields and carrying off their cattle. 

 But even on the table-land of Judtea the peasants are generally tribu- 

 tary to the Arab emirs. There is probably no part of Syria in which 

 this state of things does not exist, except in the country of the Druses 

 and Marouites, and in the immediate neighbourhood of some great 



t IV. !l . 



The Anneze is the only tribe of Beduins in Syria who never cultivate 

 the ground, but who live exclusively on the produce of their herds 

 of camels, sheep, and goats. They wander about in the Syrian and 

 Arabian deserts, and pans the winter there, which lasts from the 

 beginning of October to the end of April, when the rains cause grass 

 and herbs to spring up in many parts of the deserts, on which their 

 flocks feed ; but they enter the limit* of Syria at the beginning of 

 May, and remain there till after September. At this time they 

 approach the caravan road leading from Aleppo to Damascus, and the 

 Hadji road leading from Damascus to Mecca. They come to these 

 places for a two-fold purpose, water and pasture for the summer, and 

 to exchange their cattle for corn as winter provision. If they are at 

 peace with the pasha of Damascus they encamp quietly among the 

 villages near the springs or wells. 



The most powerful of the other Arab tribes are the El Howeytat 

 and the Beni Neym, who live in the mountain region of El-Shera and 

 in the adjacent plain ; the Beni Szakher, who are in possesssion of the 

 rich pasture-grounds in the Belka, and likewise visit the plain of 

 Haouran ; the Adouan, who are found in the Jebel Ajeluii ; and the 

 Fehily and Serdie, who move about in the plain of Haouran and 

 the mountains in their vicinity. All these tribes are only nominally 

 dependent on the Turkish governor, and though they pay a small 

 tribute, they levy much larger sums on the agricultural inhabitants of 

 these countries. 



The Turkmans and the Kurds are in almost exclusive possession of 

 the elevated range of the Alma Dagh and the tracts at its base. The 

 eastern districts of these mountains are occupied by the Kurds, and 

 the western by the Turkmans. They descend from the mountains in 

 winter, and spread over the plains to a considerable distance south of 

 Aleppo. Some Email tribes of both nations have settled oil the 

 northern districts of Mount Libanus. 



The Turkmans are of the same stock from which the Turks are 

 sprung. In the level parts of their country they cultivate wheat, 

 barley, and several kinds of pulse. The cultivation is not carried ou 

 by the Turkmans themselves, but by Fellahs. The Turkmans remain 

 with their herds in the Umk from the end of September to the middle 

 of April, when they go to the mountains. They have horses, camels, 

 sheep, and goats, and a few cattle. Their women, who have com- 

 plexions as fair as any European women, are very industrious. They 

 make tent-coverings of goats'-hair, and woollen carpets. They have 

 also made great progress in the art of dyeing : they use indigo and 

 cochineal, which they purchase at Aleppo. The brilliant green which 

 they give to the wool is produced from herbs gathered iu the moun- 

 tains iu summer. The Kurds who inhabit Syria are originally from 

 Kurdistan. They possess the western portion of the Alma-Dagh, 

 from which they descend in summer to the plains east of Aleppo. 

 Most of these Kurds live in villages, and are occupied iu agriculture 

 and the rearing of cattle ; but there is still a considerable number of 

 families that change their abode according to the seasons, iu order to 

 procure pasture for their cattle. 



Divisions and Towns. Syria is divided into four eyalets, two of 

 which, Akka and Tarablous, extend over the countries on the shores 

 of the Mediterranean ag far north as 35" 55' N. lat,; the third, 

 Aleppo, occupies the most northern part, from the Mediterranean to 

 the banks of the river Euphrates, and as far south as 35 45' N. lat.; 

 and the fourth, Damascus, the interior of the country south of 

 35" 45' N. lat. 



1. The Eyalct of Alka, better known in Europe by the name of 

 SWean-d'Acre, to which the eyalet of Gaza was added at the begin- 

 ning of this century, occupies the whole coast from tlic boundary Hue 

 of Egypt to the Bay of Junie or Kesrawan (33 55' N. lat), and 

 extends over the plain of Falastiu, Mount Caruiel, the pluin of Ibu 

 Omer, the hilly region of Galilee, the plain of Akka, aud the 1! kaa 

 and Belad Baalbec. The most remarkable places from south to north 

 are Gaza [GAZA]. Ja/a, or Joppa [JAFFA]. Ramkh, or Ramah 



