usual in the Mediterranean, are small sailing vessels, have to go a long way out; in winter there are frequent storms, while the summer heat interferes with transport and limits consumption to the vicinity of the coast.
No fish exist in the Dead Sea; in the other inland lakes, especially Tiberias, Hule, and the Amuk lake near Antioch, they are plentiful, as likewise in the rivers. They are taken by net, line, and dynamite, but for the most part are only consumed locally. In the lake of Amuk, however, fish are killed by dynamite in January and February for the Aleppo and Damascus markets; in 1912 the catch there was 200,000 kg. There is practically no curing industry.
Fishing is a State monopoly. Ten piastres are paid for a permit, and there is a tax of one-fifth the value of the catch in the sea, large lakes, and rivers flowing into the sea, and one-tenth in the smaller lakes and other rivers. These taxes are assigned to the Ottoman Public Debt, and are farmed out.
The sponge fishery on the northern part of the coast has declined greatly of late, apparently owing to emigration of the divers. Where thirty years ago 400 boats were producing sponges to the annual value of 800,000 frs., there are now no more than about 30 boats and a production of 50,000 frs. The fishing season is from the middle of May to the end of October. No diving dress is worn by the fishermen, who jump into the sea with a stone to take them to the bottom. Besides a tax of £T 3 on each boat, one-fifth of the sponges are taken by the Government. Though the murex is still found in Syrian waters, the once famous purple industry has died out.
(4) Minerals
(a) Mining Laws
For a full account of these see Turkey in Europe (No. 16 of this series), pp. 98 seq. The regulations now in force date from 1913, when the enactments of
