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 succession of bridges and tunnels occurs. There are thirteen bridges over the Yarmuk, the last, which has a central girder span of 165 ft. with three 40 ft. masonry arches on either side, being the longest. Of the seven tunnels, the longest is 300 yds. Between Haifa and Jasr Mejamie in the Jordan valley the ruling gradient is 1 in 70; east of that point the gradient varies between 1 in 40 and 1 in 55.

(iii) Afule-Ludd. The line follows an easy route in the plain, crossing a few water-courses and the Nahr el-Auja. Accurate details are not yet available.

(iv) Wadi Surar—El-Auja. There are a number of bridges, of which the largest are: one of ten arches at Wadi el-Abiad, one of 16 arches over Wadi Rak-hama (36 km.), one of 19 arches at Um Dabkal (93 km.), and one of 15 arches at Arak el-Menshiya (116 km.).

4. British Strategic Railways. Details of the construction of these lines are not yet available.

(iii) Relations to Government: Foreign and Other Concessions

The only State-owned railway is the Hejaz system, which owes its inception to the Sultan Abdul Hamid; it has been built with funds subscribed by Mohammedans in Turkey and elsewhere, supplemented by taxation, and much of the labour was supplied by soldiers. Other lines have been built, under concessions, by private companies:—

1. Baghdad Railway (German). The concession for the Syrian sections is for 99 years from 1908.

2. (a) Chemin de fer Damas-Hama et prolongements.

(i) Beirut-Damascus—Mzerib. A concession for the Damascus—Mzerib section was originally given to a Belgian company, and another for a line from Beirut to Damascus to a French company; in 1892 these companies amalgamated, and the concession for the whole was fixed at 99 years from 1891. [2947]