Palestine]
and therefore at variance with the Sunnite Arabs, they cannot be entirely identified.
Such elements of the population as the Ansarie and the Druses preserve more purely than most the blood and customs of an early period; but they are not, therefore, distinct races from the Syrians. The native Christians, also, are a part of the same Syrian people as their Moslem neighbours, and even the Arabic-speaking Jews (as distinct from recent Jewish immigrants) cannot be sharply distinguished from a racial point of view.
The most important foreign elements in the population of Syria are the Turks (and Turcomans), who are mainly officials, Circassians, Kurds, Armenians, Persians, immigrant Jews, and a certain number of Europeans. The Jews have recently increased rapidly, owing to immigration from Russia and Rumania, and are most numerous in Palestine (about 90,000)[1] The Europeans are settled chiefly in the coast towns, and in Jerusalem, Aleppo, and Damascus. There are several German "colonies" in Palestine, but the entire number of colonists does not exceed 2,500.
Language
The language of the country is Arabic (Syrian Arabic) spoken with considerable dialectal variation in different parts. Aramaic (Syriac) is now used only in a few villages to the north of Damascus and in the liturgies of some of the churches. Turkish is almost entirely the language of officials. The Jews speak a medley of languages, according to their origin, but most Jewish immigrants speak Yiddish. The missions have diffused a considerable knowledge of European languages, but English, and more especially French, are more generally understood than German. Many Russian schools have been established.
- ↑ Another recent estimate gives, for Palestine only, 475,000 Mohammedans, 150,000 Jews, 35,000 Greek Orthodox, 25,000 Catholics (including Uniats), and 15,000 other religions (including Protestants).
