Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/139

123 THE PLAINS OF ACRE AND MEGIDDO. 123

Galilee, and have been notified in Part I. The whole tract is fertile and well watered, and has extensive gardens and orchards, producing a variety of fruit and vegetables. Its general aspect is said to be that of a rich but neglected plain, where game of every kind abounds.

Between Acre and the foot of Carmel, the plain may be described in two parts, divided between the basins of the Nahr N'amein and the Nahr el Mukutt'a. Both parts have swamps near the coast ; but the swamps of the N'amein are by far the more extensive, and have a length of not less than five miles, stretched out between Acre and the low hills of Shefa 'Amr. The plain is a noted pasture ground. In the northern part along the Wady el Halzun, the Plain of Acre is more than eight miles wide, and generally five or six miles.

The hills that bound this part of the Plain of Acre on the east, form a range belonging to the western part of Lower Galilee. This range separates the Maritime Plain from a series of inland basins that are a characteristic feature of the region. The southern extremity of the range is defined by the Mukutt'a Eiver, which separates it from Mount Carmel. From thence the range stretches in a north-easterly direction for about 22 miles, or as far as the eastern end of the Plain of Eameh, whence it extends towards the Plain of Gennesaret. It is the Northern Eange of Lower Galilee. See p. 199.

The Plain of Kameh divides the hills of Lower Galilee, from a precipitous range that extends westward to Tell el Tantur, opposite the city of Acre, and constitutes the natural southern termination of Upper Galilee. It rises to an altitude of 3,440 feet above the sea at Jebel Heider.

The further separation of the lower hills from the moun- tain range, is defined by a succession of wadys which connect the Plain of Eameh with the Plain of Acre, and form with the plain, a continuous passage for the high road between Acre and the Sea of Galilee, Safed, and Damascus. These wadys are 1. Wady esh Shaghur which rises in the western part of the Plain of Eameh, and after running westward for about five miles, turns south to join Wady el Halzun. 2. Next