are primitive, and the product, which has a wide local distribution, is extremely cheap.
Matting and baskets. The papyrus of Lake Hule is made into matting by the local Beduin women, and some rough mats and baskets are produced in other parts of the country.
Pottery. The best known is that of Gaza, which has a wide sale. A quantity is also made at Ramle, Jerusalem, Nablus, in the Lebanon, in the Beirut district, and at Damascus.
(6) Power
The use of electricity, which has not long been permitted, has so far made little progress. A power station outside Damascus supplies that city with light, drives street trams and irrigation pumps, and serves the workshops of the Hejaz railway at Kadem Sherif. Beirut, where also there are electric tramways, is partly lit by electricity, and some hotels in Jerusalem and Aleppo have private installations. Electric light is in use at Bir es-Seba, and electric works are reported to be under construction in the Lebanon. A small power station has been set up at the Jewish colony at Mesha.
Water-power is not much utilised, except for mills (p. 116). It supplies electricity at Damascus, and in 1913 a concession was granted for trams and light at Aleppo, for which the power was to be derived from waterfalls near Antioch. According to German reports, falls at Tell esh-Shehab, in the Yarmuk valley, are to supply power for the railway and for lighting Deraa, Tiberias, Haifa, Jerusalem, &c. Several other rivers are well adapted for the production of power, especially the upper Jordan, the Orontes (Nahr elAsi), on which are Homs, Hama, and Antioch, the Litani, and the Nahr el-Auja, near Jaffa; the Jihan might well be drawn upon for the Killis-Aintab district.
