506 Commercial Aspect of Ferusalem. 
“No mines are worked, although it is believed that sul- 
phur, bitumen, and rock salt abound on the shores of the 
Dead Sea; but security and capital are wanting, and so 
long as these are absent, the probable wealth to be extracted 
from those regions will remain unavailable. No factories are 
to be met with. The employment of the people in the rural 
districts is agriculture, which is carried on in the most primi- 
tive mode. 
“A colony of Americans from the State of Maine, num- 
bering 156 persons, arrived and settled near Jaffa in Sep- 
tember. Their leading idea appears to be a religious one, 
connected with the fulfilment of prophey concerning the 
Holy Land. They are, for the most part, farmers, handi- 
craftsmen, &c., bringing with them their own wooden houses, 
agricultural implements, and tools. If the colony contrives 
to escape the disastrous failure which has attended previous 
similar experiments, it will be interesting to watch the pro- 
gress and results of the enterprise, which cannot fail to be 
beneficial to the country, through the introduction of their 
superior husbandry and workmanship. 
Public Works.—It is matter of great regret it should have 
again to be reported that neither railway, nor what, under 
the circumstances, would be more advisable, carriage road, 
has been, or is likely to be, made between Jaffa and Jeru- 
salem, and of whicha harbour at Jaffa would much enhance 
the value. The difficulty is understood to arise from the 
unwillingness of the Porte to grant the concession to a 
foreign company, while it abstains from undertaking this 
most necessary and profitable work itself. The roads of the 
district are of a most wretched description, and with the 
want of security, are the main cause of the poverty and 
general backwardness of the country. The formation of 
roads would, in the nature of things, itself react upon the 
country, and tend to promote its security. This arises prin- 
cipally from the predatory Bedouin tribes inhabiting the 
outskirts of the district, to keep whom in check, however, 
military dispositions of a simple and inexpensive description 
might be readily made. Owing to the above causes vast 
and fertile plains are allowed to lie waste, or are but partially 
and poorly cultivated. There can be no doubt that with 
the agricultural capabilities of the country fully utilized, it 
would support a population many times larger than its 
present scanty and poverty-stricken inhabitants. 
“Tzzet Pasha, the Governor of Jerusalem, has had the 
pools of Solomon and the ancient aqeduct repaired, with a 
