r enterprises, a few
words about each may not be superfluous. Captain Conder, writing with
full and accurate information, says:--

"Probably the most successful undertaking of an agricultural kind
in Palestine is the farm at Abu Shusheh, belonging to the
Bergheims, the principal banking firm in Jerusalem. The lands of
Abu Shusheh belong to this family, and include 5,000 acres; a fine
spring exists on the east, but in other respects the property is
not exceptional. The native inhabitants are employed to till the
land, under the supervision of Mr. Bergheim's son; a farmhouse has
been built, a pump erected, and various modern improvements have
been introduced. The same hindrance is, however, experienced by the
Bergheims which has paralyzed all other efforts for the improvement
of the land. The difficulties raised by the venal and corrupt
under-officials of the Government have been vexatious and
incessant, being due to the determination to extort money by some
means or other, or else to ruin the enterprise from which they
could gain nothing. The Turkish Government recognizes the right of
foreigners to hold land, subject to the ordinary laws and taxes;
but there is a long step between this abstract principle and the
practical encouragement of such undertakings, and nothing is easier
than to raise groundless difficulties, _on the subject of title_,
or of assessment, in a land where the judges are as corrupt as the
rest of the governing body."[62]

More important still is the estate of seventy square miles in the plain
of Esdraelon, now in the hands of Mr. Sursuk, a wealthy banker at
Beyrout. Mr. Oliphant gives an account of the enterprise. "The
investment," he adds, "has turned out eminently successful; indeed, so
much so, that I found it difficult to credit the accounts of the
enormous profits which Mr. Sursuk derives from his estate."[63]

From Mr. Oliphant's description, I turn to the excellent Commercial
Report, written by Vice-Consul Jago, in plain prose, and I find he thus
speaks of the undertaking:--

"Some few years ago, the wealthiest native Christian in the
country, tempted by the low price of land near Acre offered for
sale by the Government, purchased a large tract, containing thirty
villages, for L18,000. The revenue accruing to the Government was,
prior to the purchase, between LT