Page:Syria and Palestine WDL11774.pdf/20

 1887-8 the two sanjaks of Lebanon and Jerusalem. In 1908 the territory from Bir es-Seba to Akaba became a separate sanjak (though still associated with Jerusalem). The boundaries of the vilayet of Aleppo are noted above (p. 1). The sanjak of Jerusalem has been gradually extended since 1888, at the expense of the vilayet of Damascus, the eastern parts of whichwere distributed in 1894 and again in 1907. The vilayet of Beirut is split into two separate parts bythe semi-autonomous district of Lebanon.

(2)

Surface

Syria is bordered by a coastal plain of varying width. In northern Syria the relative area of coastal plain is small except to the north of Alexandretta and around the Bay of Antioch. Between Latakia and Tripoli extensive plains spread in two inland sweeps of great depth, continuing in varying width as far as the base of Lebanon. The region immediately south of Latakia is well watered by perennial rivers, and the soil is rich and well cultivated, although the southern part is partially flooded in winter. Towards Saida the plain widens to a considerable breadth, and is very fertile.

South of the Litani, in Palestine, coastal plains become a more marked and constant feature, and there follow in succession the plain of Es-Sur (Tyre), some 12 miles in length and 1 mile broad at its widest part, and the plain of Akka (Acre), which stretches for some 20 miles as far as Carmel, and has an average depth of 4 miles, being continued inland along the basin of the Mukatta river in the plain of Esdraelon. South of the Carmel promontory the coastal plain runs continuously, and with gradually increasing breadth, to the confines of Egypt. The Nahr el-Auja divides this strip into two parts, the plain of Sharon in the north and that of Philistia in the south. Both sections have great agricultural possibilities.