Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/110

94 94 THE JORDAN WATERSHED.

a half before it reaches the plain of Jericho the Kelt again enters a deep and rocky defile, which skirts the southern edges of the basin, and continues to the line of cliffs that form the base of the mountains on the west of Jericho. The wady proceeds due east across the Ghor as far as Eriha, the modern Jericho, situated within two miles of the cliffs ; after which it turns south-eastward, and soon receives a perennial affluent from Tell es Sultan in the midst of the vestiges of an ancient site of Jericho. The Khaur Abu Dhahy next falls in on the opposite bank, its origin being due east of its outfall, on the mountain side. The last tributary rises in Ain Hajlah, a little more than two miles from the Jordan and unites with the Kelt at the edge of the Zor.

Wady Eijan.

Between the Nuei'ameh basin and Wady el Kelt, there is a wady which descends from Has et Tawil (alt. 1,864 feet), and passes eastward to the plain, on the south of Jebel Kuruntul. In the plain it appears to be exhausted in ir- rigation, but naturally it seems to belong to the Kelt. An old road comes down through it from Bethel and Mukhmas to 'Ain es Sultan, but on approaching the plain the road ascends the ridge on the south of the wady, and turns to the south for nearly a mile along the top of the cliffs, before it descends to the plain. This wady has the following names in succession, Shamut, Kijan, el Mefjir, and Abu Eetmeh. Besides the road already mentioned, there is another which runs parallel to it on the north, till both meet at Deir Diwan. This track ascends from the plain on the north of Jebel Kuruntul, and follows the ridge between Wady Kijan and the Nuei'ameh basin, keeping about half a mile or a little more from the other route, all the way to Deir Diwan. On the north of Ras el Tawil, a third parallel route begins, which also runs on to Deir Diwaii. The central route follows the upper course of Wady Sikya or Makuk, in the Nuei'ameh basin, and the routes on either side traverse the hills which enclose it, the western passing along