Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/112

96 96 THE JORDAN WATERSHED.

The light thrown by the Survey on this interesting sub- ject, is too explicit to be passed by on this occasion. The two wadys that flank the sides of Haiyan, correspond to those on the north and west of Ai specified in Joshua viii. The wady on the north was interposed between Ai and Joshua's prominent position on that side of the city, "which appears to have been just where Deir Diwan now stands (Josh, viii, 11). The other wady on the west was the place of " ambush." It is a defile stretching up for a mile and a half towards Bethel "between Bethel and Ai on the west side of the city," Josh, viii, 12. The road between the two places runs along the summit of the north side of the defile. There is a more secluded parallel valley on the south, which may also be said to be on the west of Haiyan. The King of Ai appears to have made his attack upon the Israelite camp on the north of the city, " before the plain " or literally " on the face of the Arabah ; " and the Israelites made their feigned flight by the roads to the Wilderness (midbar) on the south-east of Deir Diwan. This was probably the line by which they had been routed on their first attack on Ai ; and the chase unto Shebarim (Josh, vii, 5) may perhaps be commemorated in Kh. Abu Sabbah, although that name is said to be derived from a family who once resided there. Abu Sabbah lies on the line of the route, about a mile from Haiyan. The " going down " or Morad, along which the pursuit was maintained may be traced by the track to the northern foot of Eas et Tawil, and eastward along the ridge Umm et Talah, to the descent on the north of Kuruntul Mountain, down to the plain of Jericho. This line seems preferable for the purpose, to the " ancient road " through Mukhmas (Michmash) and Wady Eijan, which is perhaps of later date.

This subject formerly drew from Dr. Stanley a dissertation on the topography of the mountains in relation to it, which afforded all the light that could be thrown upon them, up to the publication of the New Survey. " Sinai and Palestine," 201-203. His Wady Harith seems to derive its name from