Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/117

101 EL KUEISMAH BASIX. 101

parting named el Muntar (alt. 1,723 feet) ; then it turns to the north-east, takes the name of ed Dekakin, and receives several short tributaries from the waterparting on its way to the entrance of the gorge of Wady el Mukelik.

The rocky gorge of el Mukelik is about two miles long. It occurs where the basin contracts from a maximum width of more than six miles, to a minimum of a mile and a quarter. The Wady soon afterwards opens up into a great circular space formed by the slopes of Jebel el Kammun, Tubk el Kaneiterah, Jafet el Asia, and Neby Musa, and then passes at el Kueiserah to the plain, where it bends round south-eastward to the Dead Sea.

Besides the principal communications to which attention has been drawn, there are numerous tracks in all parts of the basin ; indeed, Canon Tristram's excursion, before mentioned, proved that it might be traversed in some directions across country. One of these tracks, perhaps formerly of greater importance, appears to throw light upon King David's flight from Jerusalem by " the way of the wilderness," and finally to the Jordan and Gilead, 2 Sam. xv, xvi. Especially does it remove objections that have been made to the identification of Bahurim with Almon (Josh, xxi, 18) according to the Targum Jonathan. See Dr. George Grove's Art. " Bahurin " in Dr. Wm. Smith's Diet. Bib. Almon is also the Alemeth of 1 Chron. vi, 60, and the modern Kh. 'Almit, identified by Mr. Consul Finn and Dr. Tobler, and approved by Dr. Eobin- son (" Bib. Ees." iii, 287), Van de Velde ("Memoirs," 284), Mons. V. Guerin (" Jude'e," iii, 75), and Lieutenant Conder. Monsieur Guerin's reference to 1 Chron. viii. 36, is curiously supported by the Survey, which besides representing Alemeth and Azmaveth, by the modern 'Almit and Hizmeh, adds also Wady Zimrij for the same personal name in this passage. Eeturning to Bahurim, as identified with Almon and 'Almit, it will be seen that there is a track passing from Jerusalem over the upper part of Brook Kidron and the northern part of the Mount of Olives, to Anata, 'Almit, and Wady Farah. Among the well-watered fastnesses of Wady Farah, David

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