Education and Under Turkish rule elementary education was nominally com pulsory for all children of both sexes, while the Ministry of Public Instruction provided for the inspection of schools maintained by non Moslem communities. In Syria there are many native schools and other educational institu tions maintained for foreign missions. In the numerous girls' schools instruction is limited mainly to the study of French and English. The Sisters of Charity)) conduct an excellent training school where woman's work is taught and native teachers are trained. The rival houses of the °Sisters of Nazareth) and of the 'Prussian are highly praised for their labors, while the American missionaries aim especially at practical objects of education.
In religion the bulk of the inhabitants are Mohammedans; the Christians make up one fifth of the total, and are divided into Orthodox Greeks, United Greeks, Maronites (q.v.), Ro man Catholics, Nestorian and Protestants. The number of Jews is estimated at about 200,000. Protestantism is making rapid progress in Beirut (where that denomination maintains a fine church, several schools and a printing establish ment) and in the Lebanon. In the latter region also dwell some Bedouin "Ishmaelites? de scended from the murderous sect of 'Assassins,' who have given a familiar word to most Eu ropean languages. Quite recently large settle ments of Moslem Circassian, driven from their homes by their objection to living under Chris tian Russia, have been established east of the Jordan.
Towns.— In Syria many of the most ven erable cities in the world, such as Damascus, Aleppo, Emessa, Beirut and Jerusalem, still flourish and retain their ancient names in modi fied but recognizable forms. Tyre, Palmyra, Baalbek and some other famous places have either disappeared or shrunk into obscure ham lets. The principal seaports of Syria are still found on the coast of what was once Phcenicia, the home of the most famous navigators of antiquity. Beirut is the chief port and next to Smyrna the largest and most flourishing sea port in the Levant. Two other northern ports are Latakia and Tripoli; the southern ports, Sidon, Tyre, Acre, Caisarea (Kaiseriyeh) and Ascalon, have lost their trade and importance during the centuries since the Crusades and are now little more than fishing villages with small local traffic. Jaffa (Joppa) has recovered all its former prosperity owing to the orange in dustry and the Jerusalem Railway. Alexandretta (Iskandrun), in the extreme north, contains the finest harbor on that coast, but is the most fever-stricken spot in that region. Swedea (Seleucia), about 30 miles south of Alexan dretta, also has a fine natural harbor. A pecu liar feature of this district is that practically all the inhabitants are afflicted with the 'Aleppo Button)) or the ((Baghdad Date Mark,* each the result of a boil that always lasts a year before healing. Europeans contract these diseases often during only a few days' stay. Sidon (q.v.), now called Saida, is of consider able historical interest.
Communications.— Of the three great routes which have been the main thoroughfares between Europe and Asia — namely the Red Sea, the Euphrates Valley and the Caspian the Euphrates is the most ancient and most direct. From remotest antiquity it has been the main channel by which the riches of the East have flowed to the West, and to possess this Indo-Syrian trade route has been the desire of all great European powers, for the region it traverses is the pivot of European domination in Asia. The first great traffickers between East and West were the Phoenicians, whose suc cess in commerce was probably largely based on their trade connections across the Syrian Desert with the Persian Gulf. Trade continued
to flourish from the 6th to the 12th centuries, the Arab irruption causing but little interfer ence. Then the Mongol avalanche burst into the Euphrates Valley and Europe lost her hold on Asia, for the land route was severed. On the heels of the Mongols came the Turk., who laid the foundations of the Ottoman Empire on the bridge between Europe, Asia and Africa, cotnpletely strangling all Indo-European inter course. The establishment of the British Le vant or Turkey Company in the 16th century gave the first impulse to the revival of the old Euphrates route until, in 1750, the Indo-Syrian caravan tracks came again into a brief period of comparative prospenty. But for the discov ery of an unbroken waterway to India and the cutting of the Suez Canal, this route would have remained the highway of the East. Even in the early part of the 19th century, despite the preference for sea-borne trade, the pros pects of a revival of the old land-route were encouraging. The proposed Euphrates Navi gation Company and Railway were outward signs of a great need which Great Britain was slow to recogmize, but which Germany eventu ally took up and attempted to realize in her road to the East. It is not improbable that future historians, delving in the diplomatic records of the past 25 years, will assign a prom inent place among the ((causes)" of the Great War to the silent struggle for the command of the Mediterranean and the bridge between East and West. From Alexandretta to Aleppo the road is now accessible to wheeled traffic. From this point the pilgrims' route to Mecca and Medina is superseded by the railroad following the Orontes Valley by Hamah and Homs to Damascus, running thence through the Hauran southward to Arabia. Geographically, the Syrian railways form a sort of southern prong of the Bagdad Railway. In Syria railway enterprise began with a roundabout line of 54 miles, run ning from Jaffa to Jerusalem, opened in 1892. Since then great progress has been made, and altogether about 1,400 miles were in operation in 1914, with electric street cars in Damascus and Beirut. Since the end of 1906, when the section Aleppo to Hamah was opened, a French line has united the former town with Rayak on the line from Beirut to Damascus, with a total length of about 206 miles and a big bridge over the Orontes at Hamah. The same company cwned a line from Horns to Tripoli, which was taken up to use the material elsewhere. North of Rayak the lines have the normal or °conti nental" gauge; all those to the south of this point are narrow guage. Here also is the junc tion of the French system, a line of about 155 miles, connecting Beirut with Damascus and Mezeril. Starting from Beirut Harbor, the rail way climbs up the Lebanon (by cogwheel) for about 5,000 feet to a point just above Ain Solar, winding thence down to the valley of the Bekaa, in which Rayak junction lies. From there the line runs southeastward across the plain and crosses the Anti-Lebanon to Damas cus, to the south of which city the line (which was taken up during the war) ran almost paral lel to the west of the Hedjaz Railway. The Hedjaz line was built by the Turks with the assistance of foreign engineers, mainly for the use of pilgrims, and was opened for traffic as far as Medina (820 miles) in 1908. Starting from Damascus, it was never completed to Mecca or prolonged to the Red Sea coast as proposcd. It has a branch (22 miles) connect ing Bosra with Deraia, as well as a line to Haifa, northwest of Nazareth, and a 25-mile feeder from Amman to Es-Salt. From Beirut a steam tramway runs along the coast 10 miles north to Yunie.