of Europe. These schemes, sometimes philanthropic,
sometimes commercial, are always advocated on the assumption that the
current of European emigration and capital might be turned to Syria and
Palestine in accordance with sound economic and financial
considerations. In this paper I propose--

_First._ To take a survey of the agricultural resources of the country.

_Second._ To draw attention to the difficulties which immigrants would
experience in obtaining secure titles to landed property.

_Third._ To give a summary of the different kinds of land tenure, and
the burdens on agriculture.

_Fourth._ To point out some of the dangers and inconveniences to which
immigrants would be exposed.

* * * * *

I. In the first place we may say broadly that the natural resources of
Syria and Palestine are agricultural. On the eastern slopes of Mount
Hermon there are a few bitumen pits from which a small quantity of ore
of excellent quality is yearly exported to England. Small deposits of
coal and iron exist in several localities, and there are chemical
deposits about the shores of the Dead Sea. Gypsum and coloured marble
are found in Syria, and along the coast opposite the Lebanon range
sponges are fished annually to the value of L20,000. Hot sulphur springs
exist at Palmyra and the Sea of Galilee, and there are ruined baths on
the way between Damascus and Palmyra and in the Yarmuk Valley; but none
of these natural products are of sufficient importance to attract
European labour or capital.

Forests can scarcely be said to exist in Syria or Palestine. A few
groves of cedars of Lebanon, which escaped the axes of Hiram, are fast
disappearing. On the limestone ridges and in some of the valleys there
are clumps of pine, and throughout a great part of the country there is
a considerable quantity of scrub oak which the peasants reduce to
charcoal, and carry into the cities. In Galilee one comes on places
where the trees give a pleasing character to the landscape. On Mount
Carmel there are jungles and thickets of oak, and on the slopes towards
Nazareth there are considerable groves, but the nearest approach to a
forest is where the oaks of Bashan, which recall the beauties of an
English park, assert their ancient supremacy.

Rows of poplars mark the courses of rivers and streams throughout the
land, and supply beams for flat-roofed houses; but when churches or
other important buildings have to be roof