Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/152

136 136 THE MARITIME PLAINS.

viewed the plain from Yabud, a village on the hills above its western end ; and he noticed its outlet through Wady el Wesa, which lower down becomes Wady el Ghamik, and afterwards Wady Abu Nar, an affluent of Nahr el Mefjir.*

The distance between the plains of Sharon and 'Arrabeh is eight or nine miles ; and between the eastern end of the Plain of 'Arrabeh and the Plain of Megiddo, is only two miles. Dr. Kobinson describes the Plain of 'Arrabeh as " appearing like a bay or offset, running up (from the Plain of Megiddo), among the southern hills, "f Altogether the distance between Jenin and the Plain of Sharon is 17 or 18 miles. Further north, the distance between the plains of Sharon and Megiddo is about 12 miles, folio wing the high road between Kh. es Sumrah and el Lejjun. The altitude of the plain above the sea is about 800 feet at its eastern end, and 700 feet at the western outlet.

At its south-eastern extremity, the Plain of 'Arrabeh is connected with a series of upland plains extending from the southern end of Mount Gilboa, along the Mediterranean and Jordan waterparting to the mountain range on the north of Samaria; these are: (1.) The upper plateau of Wady es Selhab. (2.) The Merj el Ghuruk, devoid of outlet, a luxuriant corn-field in summer, and a marsh or lagoon in winter. (3.) The plain on the north of Fendakumieh noticed byVandeVelde ("Memoirs," 236). The altitude of these three plains is about the same, viz., 1,200 feet.

The Plains of Mukhnah, Rujib, 'Askar, and Sdlim.

The northern end of these continuous plains lies on the east of Nablus, from whence they extend in two arms, one of which runs for six miles southwards along the Jerusalem road ; while the other stretches for five miles to the south-east, and terminates at Tana. The southern part, or Sahel Mukhnah, is drained into the Plain of Sharon, 17 miles distant, by the Wady Kanah ; but there is no other connection with the maritime plain except by mountainous tracts. The other parts have their


 * "Bib. Kes.," iii, 123, 124.

f Koh. " Phys. Geog. Holy Land," 122.