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 as 3,000 and 1,200 respectively; the only carpet factory was closed some years ago. At Homs before the war about 10,000 weavers were engaged, some employers having as many as 200, and profits of from 15 to 20 per cent. were obtained. Homs cloths are finer and dearer than those of Aleppo, and have a good sale in Egypt as well as in Turkey. The Egyptian market is further supplied by Damascus, where mixtures of silk and cotton are a speciality, and some 5,000 weavers are normally employed, including 1,000 wool weavers. Aintab, where there are about 4,500 weavers, chiefly produces cheap cotton cloths which have a large sale, but also manufactures low-grade rugs and the goat-hair cloths of which Beduin tents are made. Cottons are the staple product of the 2,000 Lebanese looms, which, however, in consequence of the claims of the silk industry, are not fully engaged throughout the year. At Gaza with Mejel there are about 550 hand-looms, producing cotton cloth. The annual value of the total output is estimated at thirty to forty million francs. Further development of the industry has been impeded by the absence of co-operation and organisation, the predominance of the primitive hand-loom, with its restricted output, and the competition of foreign cotton cloth. Some Jacquard machines are in use at Aleppo and Damascus, but power-looms have not so far been introduced with success. The new customs tariff (p. 135) is designed to meet foreign competition.

Knitting. Cotton socks and stockings are made in a number of towns, especially at Aleppo and Damascus; 5,000-6,000 machines were in use at Aleppo and 1,500 or more at Damascus. Like weaving, this is essentially a home industry, and the women and children engaged turn out from one dozen to three dozen pairs, and earn 40-60 centimes, daily. The annual output is valued at 10,000,000 frs.

Lace-making and embroidery are in the main Christian or Jewish industries, practised chiefly at Aintab (where they were started by American