Palestine: Its Resources and Suitability for Colonization Author(S): E

Palestine: Its Resources and Suitability for Colonization Author(s): E. W. G. Masterman Source: The Geographical Journal, Vol. 50, No. 1 (Jul., 1917), pp. 12-26 Published by: geographicalj Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1779674 Accessed: 07-05-2016 17:52 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

Wiley, The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Geographical Journal

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 12 PALESTINE: ITS RESOURCES the last three years had the advantage of sitting by Dr. Keltie's side, if not at his feet, he will have a successor who will render to the Society and the Council assistance similar in quality to that we have received from his two remarkable predecessors. In Sir Thomas Holdich, who has been nominated by the Council as my successor, you may hope to find a President who will be attentive to the interests of the Society and worthily maintain its great reputation abroad and at home. By profession a Royal Engineer and a survey officer he has done distinguished work in two continents, both in Asia?in India and Afghanistan?and in the demarcation of South American boundaries. He has put his store of knowledge not only into Government maps but also into popular books. He has had, as one of our Vice-Presidents, a long experience of the affairs of-the Society, and has shown in them qualities that should ensure his success in the supreme post which forms the appropriate crown of a life devoted to geographical work. I have not the smallest doubt that in his case, as in my own, he will find his labour lightened by the constant aid and sympathy of his fellow-officers and the Council. I should like my last words from this Chair to be an expression of my own very deep sense of the way in which I have been helped, my doubts resolved and my deficiencies supplied, by my colleagues and particularly by my predecessors in office, Sir George Goldie and Major Darwin. I shall look back in the future both with gratitude and pieasure on my three years of office as a time of uninterrupted progress and harmony, a time during which we have all?-including our excellent staff, among whom I count many old friends?done our best to recognize the novel conditions forced on us and to place the experience, energy, and resources of the Society at the service of the State in the great crisis in the history of our country and of the world which has overtaken us, in the great struggle for Liberty and Civilization against a foe who has thrown a slur on the name of Humanity.

PALESTINE: ITS RESOURCES AND SUITABILITY FOR COLONIZATION

E. W. G. Masterman, M.D.r F.R.C.S., D.P.H.

Read at the Meeting ofthe Society 19 March 1917. For map see p. 52.

PALESTINE, " The Holy or Land," what though we are aaccustomed very definite to describegeographical in atlases unity asin our minds, has no political existence to-day. Under the Turkish Govern? ment Jerusalem and its environs, a district roughly corresponding with the Judaea of New Testament times, is an independent Sandjak under a Mute- sarrif. Western Palestine, north of this, is incorporated into the Vilayet

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms ?...n,^_?**- . J^i .

AMMAN FROM THE CITADEL. GRECO-ROMAN TEMPLE ON HILLSIDE, THE ODEUM ON EXTREME LEFT

MODERN INHABITANTS OF AMMAN. TWO TYPICAL CIRCASSIANS IN FRONT

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE THERMAE AT AMMAN. IN THE FOREGROUND A CIRCASSIAN CART

THE JABBOK AT AMMAN, WITH RUINED BASILICA AND REMAINS OF VAULTING OVER STREAM

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms AND SUITABILITY FOR COLONIZATION 13

of Beirut, and Eastern Palestine is included in the Vilayet of Suriya (Syria), which stretches from Hama in the north to the Hidjaz, of which Damascus is the seat of government. It would almost seem as if such an arrangement were deliberately made to obliterate the claims of Palestine to survival as one land. For all Christendom, however, Palestine still exists, a land unique in history and religious sentiment, and at the present time a critical and pressing political problem. At the outset it is as well to define what we mean by Palestine. It no longer means as once " the land of the Philistines," and always has included very much which the Philistines never held. The district we describe as Palestine was never in its entirety held by the Hebrews for any length of time. The united kingdoms of Judah and Israel correspond roughly with what I may call the ideal boundaries. To the west lies the Mediter? ranean ; to the east the great Syrian desert; southward the land merges into the desert of Sinai, where a purely artificial frontier divides it off from Egyptian territory. The northern boundary has never been clearly defined. The "holy land" of Judaism, within which it is a merit to be buried, does not extend to Akka in the north. This is true to ancient history, as Akka was the most southerly of the towns of Phoenicia in the same way that Dar, 25 miles further south, appears to have been the most northerly point reached by the Philistines. A more or less scientific frontier, which was recognized by the surveyors of the Palestine Explora? tion Fund in making their great map, exists at the great gorge of the Kasimiya River, where it runs from east almost due westward to the sea. A line drawn due east of this reaches Banias?probably the ancient Dan itself?long accepted as the northern point of Palestine, and then skirting to the south of Hermon it runs along the water-parting between the Damascus oasis on the north and the great plain of Hauran to the south. This makes a fairly natural frontier. Damascus does not by nature belong to Palestine, and has never in history gone with it at any period. The area of this entire region is roughly about 10,000 square miles. These boundaries correspond with the idealized limits of Canaan as divided among the twelve tribes, with the possessions of the Hebrew kings in the days of their greatness, and with the Palestine of New Testament times. More strictly Tyre, which is south of the Kasimiya River, remained attached to Phoenicia, and the ancient boundary was at the steep headland where the Djebel el Mushakka breaks out into the sea at Ras en Nakura, the historic " Ladder of Tyre." A Palestine so defined is consistent with history, and it includes in one all those sites which are associated with the three Semitic religions which have arisen more or less in connection with it. It is needless to lay stress upon the Biblical associations of the Christian with the land. The endless stream of pilgrims and tourists which in all ages have poured into Palestine, the archaeological investigations which in recent years have been conducfed there, and the religious establishments of the Eastern, Western,

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 14 PALESTINE: ITS RESOURCES and the Protestant Churches which have covered the land, all testify to the deep and, one may say, ever-increasing interest which the land holds for the Christian. Unfortunately, this sentiment and reverence for the land has made, and still makes, its future a thorny problem, and the rivalry of the Churches is nowhere seen to greater disadvantage than in this land. Secondly, the Hebrews, although they actually held Palestine for only a matter of a few centuries, and have had no foot of it to call their own for over eighteen hundred years,* still look longingly to the little land that was so intimately associated with their earlier history. The movement of Zionism?now so familiar to every one?has for its object the settlement of some representatives of their race in their ancient land, to found there a religious and literary centre and a home for those whom persecution has driven out of other lands. There is a third religion which claims, in parts at least of this land, an interest as great as the Christian and the Jew. Whether Mahommed ever actually visited Jerusalem is more than doubtful; but to the orthodox Moslem the Haram at El Kuds?the scene of some of the Prophet's visions?is only second in sanctity to Mecca and Medina. There is no doubt whatever as to the deep and universal reverence paid to Jerusalem ?and in a less degree to Hebron?in the world of Islam. Whatever may be the future of Palestine these sentiments must have to be con? sidered and respected by England. Some years ago, when the news got about that Captain the Hon. M. Parker had, in the course of some archaeological investigations, violated the sanctity of Haram, there was not only uproar and excitement in Jerusalem, but the fact being tele- graphed to India caused great resentment and unrest among the Moslems. A Mahommedan leader was sent to make investigations on the spot and assure himself that it was not by connivance of H.M. Government that such an outrage on their religion had been done. It is a matter of great urgency to the British Empire, where so many million Moslems are our fellow-subjects, that any new political arrangements for this land should leave the Moslem world, if not in actual possession of Jerusalem, at least with absolute freedom of access to and control of the Haram. We have no quarrel with the Arab race, however much the Turk has driven these people into war with us. The Arab in the past has been oppressed by the Turk, and has suffered greatly at his hand: only a common religion and fear that we Christian Powers should seek by force of arms to injure this religion has united him with the Turk against us. It is not alone in this direction that England is actually concerned in the future settlement of this land. The war has made evident to us how imperative it is that Palestine should be in friendly and peaceful hands if the quietness and security of Egypt is to be assured. The late Sir Charles Watson has shown in the current * Quarterly Statement' of the Palestine Exploration Fund that according to Napoleon's ideas the true defence of

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms AND SUITABILITY FOR COLONIZATION 15

Egypt lay in Palestine. Had we recognized this earlier in the war how much anxiety in Egypt and misery in Syria might have been avoided. Finally, we must not lose sight of the fact, as many are too apt to do, that Palestine rightly belongs to the indigenous peoples of the land whose ancestors have dwelt there in unbroken succession for longer than the Anglo-Saxons have inhabited these shores. It is true that Palestine is depopulated?before the war by a very considerable emigration due to its poverty, to Turkish oppression, and more recently to compulsory military service; and since the war, if all accounts *re true, to actual starvation as well as losses in battle. But many of the soldiers will be returning, battle scarred and financially ruined, and many who have emigrated will certainly wish to return to their own land should a stable and just government be established; and in returning will in many cases bring both capital and new and progressive ideas. Whatever claims others may have it must surely be recognized that these?whatever their religion?have the first right. For those who do not know the land personally let me say that these people are not Turks?though up till now Turkish subjects?but are best described as Syrians, a mixed race in which much Arab blood has intermingled with that of descendants of Canaanites, Hebrews, Greeks, Egyptians, and perhaps in places even Crusaders. The total population of Palestine before the war was somewhere between 600,000 and 700,000, of whom three-fourths were Moslems. The land in its then state of development could not support more, and an appalling child mortality kept the population from much increase. Probably the war and the terrible conditions obtaining in this land will have reduced the popula? tion by one quarter, especially the Moslem element; but the great destruc? tion which has been going on of the sources of food and agriculture will have reduced its power of supporting its inhabitants from its own resources in probably at least as great a proportion. It may naturally be asked, why should colonization be mentioned at all in connection with Palestine ? In the first place, this land has in the past been the scene of repeated attempts at settlement from without. In ancient history the Hebrews and the Philistines established themselves there. The great cities of Decapolis, at a later time, were established by Greeks and largely inhabited by them. During the early days of Islam Arabs from the south came in a steady flow, and during the time of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem Palestine enjoyed some of its palmiest days, when thousands of Europeans settled in the land and developed its resources. But all traces of these incursions, except in splendid ruins, seem to have been swept away and the surviving descendants have been incorporated into the Synan people. Quite recently large settlements of Moslem Circassians?driven from their homes by their fanatic objection to living under Christian Russia?have, at the invitation of the late Sultan, been made in the most fertile and beautiful sites east of the Jordan. All along the Hidjaz railway this thrifty and warlike race have done all that can

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 16 PALESTINE: ITS RESOURCES be done on primitive lines to develop these regions. They are now firmly established, at once a barrier against the wandering Bedouin to the east, but a grave problem if the CQntrol of Palestine is ever to pass out of Moslem hands. In the same way, further north but still within the boundary, tribes of Druses who migrated from south Lebanon to the mountains of the Hauran after 1861, there lead a semi-independent existence with periodical wars of independence against their hereditary enemies the Turks. Smaller settlements of Algerian Moslems, of Egyptians, of Bulgarian Moslems {e.g. at Kaisariya) and others are to be found all over the land. In Galilee in particular the population is very various and it is possible to pass from one village to another and in each to find a different race or sect, each keeping apart for generations. The colonization we are, however, considering now is that of Western peoples, Europeans or Americans, and by colonization I do not mean residence ?as by most Europeans now?for some months or even years, but the making of permanent homes for the settlers and their descendants. The questions to be considered are, Is Palestine a land suited for the peoples from the temperate climes to colonize ? Are its resources such as to make it a hopeful field for such undertakings ? Is there room for a larger population when the needs of the indigenous inhabitants are considered ? During the second half of the last century, down to the outbreak of the war, several attempts at settlement in Palestine have been made by Western peoples. All these movements have been inspired by some kind of religious motives. In 1856 some American settlers founded a colony in Yafa (Jaffa), but from various causes, especially the climate, this enterprise proved a failure, many of the colonists dying and others moving away. Some four years later a religious movement was inaugurated in Wiirttem- berg by a pietist called Hoffmann, who, on the strength of a literal interpre- tation of certain Old Testament prophecies, led his followers in batches to found the Temple Colonies in the Holy Land. Their first colony was at Haifa at the foot of Mount Carmel, and immediately afterwards?in 1868 ?they reoccupied the abandoned colony in Jaffa. They then built a com- pact settlement in the environs of Jerusalem, close to the spot where now stands the Jerusalem railway station. Since then they have started further settlements at Sarona, near Jaffa, and at a site they have named Wilhelma; and in Galilee, too, they have founded two other colonies, one at Bethlehem of Galilee. Originally agriculturalists mainly, members of these colonies have become shopkeepers, hotel proprietors, tourist agents, carpenters, etc.j in many parts of the land. In recent years, since the visit of the Kaiser, they have received much Imperial patronage. Good Government schools have been provided for them and batches of their youths have anntially been transported to Germany for military training. Many of these are to-day serving as officers in the Turkish

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE ROAD TO JERICHO THROUGH THE WILDERNESS OF JUD^A

ROCK PLATFORM AND ENTRANCE TO CAVES AT ARAK-EL-EMIR, TWELVE MILES WEST OF AMMAN

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE PLAIN AND TOWN OF JERICHO, AND FOOTHILLS OF, JUDiEANjMOUNTAINS

CLIFFS OF LACUSTRINE DEPOSITS ON WEST BANK OF JORDAN

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms AND SUITABILITY FOR COLONIZATION 17

Army. As a result of the careful selection of suitable sites for their settlements (they had some failures in this direction at the first) and the fact that the first colonists were men accustomed to work on the land, very considerable success has followed their efforts. The now well-known Jewish colonies are on a considerably more extended scale. The beginning of this Jewish agricultural movement was the founding of the Agricultural School of Mikveh Israel by the Alliance Israelite in 1870. In Judsea the more important settlements are Rishon le Zion (1881) and Rekhoboth (1890). There are also many smaller colonies. Further north the most thriving of the colonies is at Zimmarin on Carmel, and is known as Sikhron Yaakob. It was founded in 1882 by Baron Edmund de Rothschild. Here a most charming site has been well cultivated and developed. There are few pleasanter sights in Palestine than this colony and its environs in the glory of spring. Several smaller settlements are attached to it. Among the mountains of Galilee there are several colonies; and others exist in the Jordan Valley, on the shores of Lake Huli, to the north and to the south of the Lake of Galilee. These last have proved but modified successes on account of the malarious con? dition of the sites. Finally, considerable areas of land have been purchased by Jewish societies in districts east of the Jordan. The vicissitudes of these colonies have been great. The most successful have received unstinted financial assistance from their supporters in Europe and even now are scarcely self-supporting. The taxation put upon them by the Turkish Government has been a heavy burden. Mistakes have been made in the past in the selection of the type of person fitted to make useful colonists. Many have been sent out whose last desire was to become themselves actual workers on the soil, whose idea of coloniza? tion was to make the fellaheen do all the hard work. There have been considerable difficulties in places with the fellaheen themselves, who, though they have sold their lands, feel considerable hostility at times to those who have dispossessed them. Another more serious difficulty has arisen in recent years because by Turkish law only those are allowed to be legal holders of property in the colonies who are Turkish subjects, but since the coming into power of the Young Turks all Turkish subjects regard- less of religion became liable to military service. Young Jews have thus been called upon to fight for the support of Ottoman power, against the country of their birth and their family associations. Then, too, the question of health was not at first greatly studied, and, despite a medical service provided for the colonists by the European supporters for meet? ing casual ailments, great numbers have suffered?especially in the plains and the Jordan Valley?from malaria and blackwater fever. It must be acknowledged that shortly before the outbreak of war things had greatly improved and a more scientific spirit was breathed into the whole movement by the work of some really able leaders in Haifa and Jerusalem. A great hindrance to the success of genuine colonization in Q

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms iS PALESTINE: ITS RESOURCES

Palestine?an embarrassment one would imagine to all Zionists?is the great mass of semi-pauper Jews of all types and from all lands, who have settled in the larger towns, especially Jerusalem, Safed, Tiberias, and Hebron. These people have learned to expect doles of charity on account of their living in the Holy Land, and in only exceptional cases do they make good colonists. Many of them have very poor physique con- sequent upon the miserable surroundings of their town life, their recurrent bouts of malarial fever and not infrequent condition of semi-starvation. Their independence of character has in many cases been undermined by their condition of reliance upon outside financial help, and in this respect they are in marked contrast to the majority of the modern colonists. A movement was on foot shortly before the war to bring up many of these town-bred children upon the land, that they might escape the moral and material evils of city life and grow up to love life and work in the colonies. So much that has been written about Palestine has been idealized by the glamour of its past that it is well to consider in sober prose what are the actual resources of a land once described as "flowing with milk and honey." To the traveller from the green fields of England the first impression to-day is that of a bare and half-desert land where the peasants are miserably poor : the only fruitful sites are around the villages and towns, and even these last are full of people depending for their subsistence on the wealth of tourists or the support of societies or communities in other lands. The bare limestone rocks over great areas are devoid of trees and shrubs, and even in districts to the north and north-east, where the volcanic rocks wear down to provide a richer soil, the aspect, in all but spring-tide, is often that of desolation. It seems to such as if only the glorious sun? shine, the fresh breezes, and the unmatched vistas of mountain, lake, and plain?all speaking of a hundred historic associations?alone make this land of worth. And actually it is a poor land. It has no mineral wealth. No coal is to be found. What iron ore there is is not worth the working. There is neither copper, gold, nor silver. No deposits of petroleum of any size have been discovered, though in the Jordan Valley, especially at its southern end, many cherish a hope that it may occur. Deposits of bitumen are known to exist near or under the Dead Sea; small fragments may be gathered on its shores and large masses have at times floated to its surface. In the salts of the Dead Sea small quantities of bromides and iodides occur, but hardly in quantities to allow of commercial exploitation. Beds of phosphates have been found east of the Jordan. But when all is said it is upon its agriculture and its livestock that the wealth of the land must?as it has ever done?depend. It was a land of milk, that is of abundant flocks of goats and sheep and camels; and of honey, that is of " dibbs " or grape juice concentrated by boiling, the great sources of sugar in ancient time when vines were far more cultivated than to-day, as is shown by the innumerable ruined wine-presses found everywhere among the traces of long ruined terraces. To-day grapes

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms AND SUITABILITY FOR COLONIZATION 19 grew to considerable perfection and in great variety in many parts of the land, some yielding excellent wines, especially in the Jewish colonies. The vine and the fig tree, so constantly associated in the sacred writings, flourish wherever planted and cared for. Olives reach great perfection, and have undoubtedly been far more cultivated in other ages. Even now, after providing a staple food for the people, olive oil to the value of some thousands of pounds is exported annually from Jaffa. An even more important product for exportation is the sesame oil which is produced from the late summer crop of simsim. The colocynth grows wild in the plains about Jaffa and Gaza and also in the Jordan valley, and the gathered crop to the value of some ^2000 sterling is almost entirely exported to England. The largest export is the great orange crop from Jaffa, which much increased a few years before the war. Only a few parts of the land are suitable for this, as the gardens need abundant irrigation and the necessary conditions seem obtainable only on the sea coast. Lemons are grown also in Jaffa, and like oranges occur in small quantities in many sheltered and well-watered valleys. Almonds, apricots, and pomegranates all thrive in parts of the land. Melons flourish in the plains and con? siderable quantities are exported from Jaffa. Tobacco can be cultivated in many parts. In the Jordan Valley bananas, American corn, rice, dates, sugar-cane, and cotton all might be cultivated with profit in the better watered areas. Wheat and barley are grown in all parts, from the mountain plateaux both east and west of the Jordan to the Jordan Valley itself, where a very early and abundant harvest is obtained. The great Plain of Esdraelon and the ancient wheat-bearing plateau of the Hauran both yield excellent crops. I have ridden through the Hauran with unbroken stretches of wheatfields extending to the horizon on every side. The railways which traverse this district from Damascus have been a heavy blow to Palestine, because the best harvests in the land are now all reaped for export and the price of corn has risen considerably. In the drier parts of the land, particularly in the south, the harvest depends upon a very capricious rainfall, and a failure in the amount or the distribution of the season's rain may mean its entire ruin. Locusts, too, not infrequently invade the land in countless millions and eat up everything. A succession of bad seasons is a disaster, not only to the crops, but by driving the Bedouin from their usual somewhat arid haunts into the cultivated area, when if not checked they clear the land like a swarm of locusts. Durra? Egyptian maize?is sown as a late summer crop and thrives with little rain. With regard to livestock, goats are at once the most entirely suited to the land and the cause of its greatest destruction. The flocks of goats which wander at large over the hills and mountains destroy all the rising trees and shrubs and no unenclosed district has any chance of develop? ment. At the same time they and the camels seem to flourish on a drier and scantier herbage than those accustomed to our green fields could imagine possible. Fat-tailed sheep and small cattle do well in more

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 20 PALESTINE: ITS SOURCES fertile spots, finding abundant herbage in the spring. Except among the Circassians I have never seen any attempt made to gather the tall lush herbage of the spring for hay. Buffaloes occur in the northern parts of the Jordan Valley and yield a rich milk. Taking Palestine as a whole, no one that knows the land can possibly call it "desolate." Even fertile parts may appear so to the chance stranger in midwinter, when the land has not wakened to life under the influence of the rains, or in midsummer when life has been driven underground under the blazing heat. Also there are real deserts which will probably never be of much value. Such, for example, are the eastern slopes of the Judsean hills, where they fall rapidly towards the Jordan and the Dead Sea. The scanty rainfall produces a thin covering of scattered herbs and grass which in a very few weeks fades in all but a few valleys. The currents of air from the west, which deposit their moisture in abun? dance on the western side of the watershed, descend these eastern slopes as dry and scorching winds, which suck the moisture from the soil. The wild spates of water which scour these bare valleys after heavy winter rain- falls do little for the hill slopes except denude them of soil, though by filling the numerous underground cisterns constructed by the Bedouin along their course they make possible a precarious existence here for man and beast. Salt deserts occur also both north and south of the Dead Sea, and both south and east of Palestine the line between the " desert and the sown " is an ever-changing one, but never far from man's settled habitations. The recent exploration of the Nejeb and the Desert of the Wanderings by Messrs. Newcombe and Woolley, on behalf of the Palestine Exploration Fund, has dissipated for ever the idea that these lands were ever suited for a settled agricultural community. The only time any considerable number of buildings were made there was during the Byzantine period, when great monastic establishments were founded in these wastes from religious motives, and by great diligence and the careful storage of all available water was there attained a passing appearance of prosperity. But there are other large areas in the land which have been " desolated " by the neglect and destruction of centuries. Here only by patient and sustained labour can fruitfulness be extracted from the soil. There is no doubt that from early historic times?before the arrival of the Hebrews? these parts were very highly cultivated; but now the devastation of centuries has reduced many tQ semi-desert. The destruction of the ancient terraces on the mountain sides has meant the washing away of the soil more completely than happens where the natural covering of soil, bound together by shrub and tree roots, is left undisturbed. Many hundreds of square miles of mountain slope once cultivated are now bare limestone rocks. In other places barriers across valleys made to retain the flood- waters of spring have long ago been swept down. A restoration of these terraces and barriers?a long and laborious work?must be a preliminary to recultivation in these regions.

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms AND SUITABILITY FOR COLONIZATION 21

A steady deforestation has been going on for centuries, but at a greatly increased rate in recent years, when the demand for wood fuel and charcoal for European establishments, steam mills, and railways has led to an enormous destruction of trees. That the foothills and plains can easily be covered by trees is witnessed by the beautiful groups of oaks, tere- binths, and pines about Carmel, Tabor, the Nazareth Hills, and Banias, and by the great forest of eucalypti planted by the Jewish settlers in the marshy lands near ancient Csesarea (Kaisariya). But on the bare mountain slopes wherever the moist sea-breezes come, pines flourish well when once they get a start. How much may be done in this direction is shown by the delightful little pine forest at El Kubeiba?traditional Emmaus?in connection with the German Roman Catholic Hospice. Here in a very few years a hilltop, previously bare and sterile, has through the effort of one man been converted into a charming forest. There are also many districts well suited to the cultivation of olives and figs, indeed once so used, but now neglected and sterile. In the Jordan Valley there is no doubt room for considerable irriga? tion, both from the Jordan itself and from the tributary streams. Any scheme should consider the valley as a whole and not in districts alone. Europeans, however, could never safely make permanent homes in the valley. Much of it is very malarious already, and great irrigation will only add to the risks from this cause; this, of course, applies with chief force to the southern parts where heat is great. Labour should be supplied by the local inhabitants assisted by negroes; the European supervisors should make their homes in the surrounding hills. Certainly no attempt should be made to raise children of European stock in these tropical regions. The East Jordan lands are of essential importance to Palestine, and must form part of the land if any satisfactory settlement is to be arrived at. The ancient land of Moab?now the districts of El Kerak and El Belka ?are, as they have always been, excellent pasture lands of goats, sheep, and camels. The middle district, Gilead?now Djebel Adjlun?was once well wooded, and until recently an actual forest of noble trees lay on the road between the Jabbock (Wadi ez Zerka) and Es Salt. Now this is fast disappearing. This, too, is a well-watered land. Northward again the plateaux of El Djaulan and El Nukrah (ancient Hauran) are great corn- growing districts. Much of these lofty plateaux to the east of the Jordan has a salubrious climate, and now that it is linked up by road and rail to the west and the north a settled Government only is needed for steady development to begin. From the reports that reach us, the only direction in which progress has occurred in Palestine during the war has been with roads and railways. The road from Jerusalem to Jericho has been extended across the Jordan to Amman, ancient Ramoth Amman, now an important station on the Hidjaz Railway. Then a road has been carried from Akka to Safid and on to Damascus. In the south a good carriage-road from Jerusalem

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 22 PALESTINE: ITS SOURCES has been carried far south of Beersheba into the desert. The French railway line from Jaffa to Jerusalem was torn up early in the war as far inland as Ramle, and the rails utilized for the extension southwards of the Palestine branch of the Hidjaz Railway. This line branches off from the Haifa-Damascus Railway at El Afuli, runs past Djenin to near Nablus, and thence past Ramli to Beersheba, if not further south. I trust that we may before long hear that it has been linked up with our railways from Egypt. One of the greatest problems and difficulties to agriculturalists in this land is the rainfall. How far the rainfall of to-day is different from that of ancient times is an undecided question. That the land on the whole is drier and the springs scantier is certain ; but this may be largely accounted for by the bare condition of the hills whereby the rain-water passes over hard rocks straight to the valley bottoms and thus runs away without being absorbed. Areas which have been cleared of all shrub and brush- wood have become noticeably drier. There are also cogent reasons for believing that at certain periods in history the rainfall may have been normally at least as advantageously distributed as it is in the most favour? able seasons at the present time. Such periods in the past have had securer and more abundant harvests, greater general fertility, and have been more favourable in every way to a settled population. At such times civilization has crept out into places where to-day only ruined habitations can be found. It is to me almost impossible to believe that without some such cycles of change Palestine and Syria could have enjoyed the prosperity which it had, for example, in the first centuries of the present era. On the other hand, it is certain that the main features of the climate have remained the same during the whole historic period. The long summer drought and the heavy winter rains, followed by the scantier but all-important showers of the spring, must have always marked the annual cycle. The rainfall has now been studied in considerable detail for half a century. We know that the mean fall each rainy season is about 26 inches in the mountains of Judaea, and that nearly all of this falls during December to March, though the earlier and the latter showers are also all important to a successful season. Unfortunately the seasonal rainfall is liable to great fluctuation in amount and distribution. If the " latter rain " fails the harvest may?especially in the mountains, where the harvest is late?be ruined. We see this occur at times to-day as it did many centuries ago. The hot Shurkiya (the sirocco), which makes the autumn and late spring months so trying to Europeans, may delay the ingathering of the harvest dangerously late, as the dry and brittle grain cannot be gathered in without great loss. For European settlers the long spells of summer heat?900 to ioo? or more for days at a time?must be a serious consideration. Although such temperatures occur in the highest mountain districts, and sunstroke is by no means uncommon, the heat is largely mitigated by cool night

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms AND SUITABILITY FOR COLONIZATION 23 breezes; in the lower lands the effect of this continuous heat is much more dangerous. It may be seriously questioned whether a continuance of such conditions may not in time?in a few generations at least?lead to a physical degeneration and loss of stamina. We at least may ask our? selves what has been the effect of these conditions upon the great numbers of Europeans who in past centuries have been domiciled in these lands ? Have they died out ? Or has the stock lost its virile northern qualities and become assimilated to the people of the land ? I am convinced that only the higher parts of Palestine are suited to those who from many genera? tions have been accustomed to the more northern climes, and even these

SEASONAL RAINFALL OF JERUSALEM

must lead a life in which consideration for climatic conditions must bear a large part. I have referred to the question of heat as one too often forgotten, but there are at the present time still greater dangers in this semi-tropical region. Palestine suffers severely from that great scourge of the tropics? malaria. In Jerusalem this disease has been for long so common that, unless special precautions are used, no resident there can expect to escape, and, as is well known, young children suffer most of all. Nothing has directly and indirectly contributed more to the infant mortality and to the anaemic condition of the poorer children of Jerusalem than this scourge. The winter months are in this respect comparatively healthy; but. with the onset of the hot months the incidence of malaria increases, until in the late summer the severe "subtertian" or "pernicious malaria" is so

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 24 PALESTINE: ITS SOURCES common that life is hardly possible without quinine. Even blackwater fever appears here at times. Those who can afford it sleep under mosquito curtains, and have wire netting on their doors and windows; the less fortunate spend the season in alternate bouts of fever and of drugging themselves with quinine. The casual visitor who comes to Palestine in the beautiful spring months can have little idea of the state of sickness among the poor six months previously.

Jam. Fbb. Mar. Apb. May June July Aflo. 8?pt. Oot. Nov. Deo. Mean atmospheric temperatur*,' F&hiv, per mentb: 49? 40? 54? 01? 65? 74? 76? 76? 75? 68? 60? 52?

No. of caaes 114 86 69 61 107 260 197 291 420 217 167 examined: No. of cases 73 of raalaria. 42 41 2G 23 45 123 86 167 227 115 85 "/, malaria: 42 37 48 38 38 32 49 44 57 54 54-5 51

? .. = Subtertian (tropical) cases: .-? = Qqprtan cases. ? ?-? = Tertian "cases.

THE RESULTS OF BLOOD EXAMINATION OF FEVER CASES IN THE CLINICS CONNECTED WITH THE ENGLISH HOSPITAL, JERUSALEM, DURING THE YEAR BEGINNING 24 SEPTEMBER 1912

The original source of the more severe form of malaria is the Jordan Valley. I have frequently had patients at all seasons who have returned from there severely stricken. The carrier of the infection is?as is now well known?the Anopheles mosquito. This pest breeds in countless numbers in the hundreds of cisterns with which Jerusalem is riddled. In the winter they are dormant, and it is only in the hotter months that the temperature rises high enough for the malarial parasite to develop in their bodies. As far as Jerusalem is concerned it would be quite possible, if powers were given to a competent sanitary authority, to deal drastically

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms AND SUITABILITY FOR COLONIZATION 25 with the plague. Were the now open cisterns closed and pumps provided, or, where this is impossible, were a little petroleum regularly thrown on the surface of the water, the development of the larvse of the Anopheles mosquito would be stopped, and without. this carrier of infection the disease would no longer spread. Under the old r'egime nothing thorough could be done, partly on account of the supineness of the Government, and partly because of the impossibility of enforcing the dictates of health precautions on a people protected under the extra-territorial rights of a dozen European Powers. Thus no Turkish doctor could insist on the carrying out of proper precautions in connection with cisterns belonging to, say, a Russian subject, nor could an English doctor do so with respect to the property of a Turkish subject. Shortly before the war a German scientific mission made a splendid beginning in this direction, and I believe it was the honest desire of the then director that we and other nations interested in Palestine should co-operate to form a really " International Health Bureau " to carry out the necessary measures. Personally, little dreaming of the cloud of war about to burst upon us, I had great hopes that England would join in these excellent plans; but up to the outbreak of the war Germany alone ?with certain non-German Jewish doctors?took any action in trying to benefit the health of Palestine. But whereas in Jerusalem and some such centres the problem of the prevention of malaria is not beyond remedy, in other parts of the land where open water or irrigated land is abundant there is less hope of eradicating this disease, and those who live in such places will always have to do so with precautions?which must be enforced?for the sake of themselves and the community. In some of the Jewish colonies which I have visited all precautions have been neglected, and the severest malaria and blackwater fever were frequent. Dysentery is by no means uncommon in the hot season, and I have seen many fatal cases. Oriental sore, the local form being known as " Jericho boil," a very chronic and disfiguring disease, is common in the southern end of the Jordan Valley. Ophthalmia is a great scourge, as is shown by the terrible proportion of the indigenous population with damaged or lost eyes. The acute form which occurs in the late summer months is most dangerous, and even the most cleanly may catch it. The chronic ophthalmia, known as trachoma, is extremely common, and is the cause of many painful conditions of the eye and eyelids as well as much imperfect sight. Severe epidemics of cholera, small-pox, typhus, and typhoid have all in recent years occurred, as they will always do where there is no efficient Health Service. The precautions taken by the Turkish authorities against these diseases are often worse than useless. Recent investigation has confirmed the opinion of those who have practised long in the land that tuberculosis is a common disease among the indigenous population, the infection having been in many cases introduced through

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 26 PALESTINE: ITS SOURCES tuberculous cases sent there from Europe?as I have several times seen. Great as is the suffefing and death from this cause among the Syrians, it has fallen still more heavily among the small Hebrew community from Yemin, who have died by hundreds of this dread scourge. For Europeans, who may be considered as to some extent protected by previous contact with the disease, the fear of contracting this disease if they keep clear of the towns is not as great as in the crowded cities of the West. In conclusion, we may say that Palestine is a moderately fertile land as compared with other parts of the Near East; there are parts which consist of unredeemable deserts, others are now neglected but can be restored to their ancient fertility; there are, too, not inconsiderable areas which are climatically unsuited to European families. To make a living on the soil of Palestine means hard work under difficult conditions with probably no great financial return. Those who idealize the fact of living in the Holy Land may find satisfaction there. To others?and I have met many such ?the conditions are too trying and disappointing, and a return to Europe or a migration to a British colony is the end of the adventure. It is use? less for any to settle in Palestine who are not prepared to be themselves practical agriculturalists and also to face, especially in the immediate future, very many difficulties. There will not be immediate openings on an extended scale after the war. The land is by no means uninhabited, and in its desolated condition it will scarcely support its reduced popula? tion. The preliminary to any great numbers of settlers must be afforesta- tion, irrigation, and restoration of terraces in the mountains?all work requiring a great expenditure of capital and skilled direction. Above all a properly organized effort must be made independent of nationality or religion to subdue as far as possible the causes of the prevalent disease. In the past, hospitals and medical men have been doing much to cure the diseases, but this does not strike at the root of things; what is needed is an efficient sanitary authority with powers to enforce the now well recog? nized means of combating malaria, to enforce vaccination, to isolate the sick from infectious diseases in proper hospitals, to protect the land from the importation of epidemics, to educate the people in methods of prevent- ing ophthalmia, and to do, indeed, all those measures to which we in these lands are accustomed. How all this is to be brought about is a question no one at present can say; but I am convinced that only along such lines of slow and cautious development can any successful colonization of Palestine be carried out.

Before the paper the President said : The paper to which we are to listen to-day is on the suitability of Palestine for colonization, and the gentleman who is to read it, Dr. Masterman, is extremely well qualified to speak on the subject. He has resided on and off?but mostly on?for the last twenty years in Damascus or Jerusalem, where he has been surgeon to the English Hospital. He is also the Honorary Secretary in Palestine for the Palestine Exploration Fund. You may perhaps think that there is no call for a paper on Palestine ;

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms RAILWAYS IN SYRIA AND PALESTINE, 1917 Lines reported destroyed are not shown

This content downloaded from 132.203.227.61 on Sat, 07 May 2016 17:52:47 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms