Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/153

137 THE PLAIN OF PHILISTIA. 137

waters carried to the Jordan by Wady Far'ah. (see page 73). The altitude varies from 1,800 feet at the head of the eastern arm, to 1,600 feet at the outlet of the southern end.

The Plain of Philistia.

From the sandy range of hills on the south of Kamleh, the plain extends to Gaza and the extremity of the survey ; beyond which it is prolonged through the desert called in Scripture the Wilderness of Shur. The length of the Phi- listian coast-line is about 40 miles ; from Ekron on the north to the hills on the south, which divide Wady Hesy from Wady Sheriah, is only 30 miles. The difference is mainly due to the obliquity of the coast-line.

The whole of Philistia is included in the Shephelah, or lowland country ; but like the lowlands of Scotland, the plains are only a part of the lowland, the hills forming a large pro- portion of the total area. The eastern border of Philistia or the Shephelah, dividing the lowland hills from the Highland of Judaea, can now be traced through the natural features of the country made known by the Survey. For the present the plain alone will be discussed.

Like the Plain of Sharon, this southern tract is also broken up by low hills, which are quite inferior to the more elevated division of the lowland. The long line formed by the descent of the- highland to the Plain of Sharon, is in some degree preserved in the Philistine plain, as far as 'Arak el Menshiyeh ; but the whole aspect is less regular. At Akir (Ekron), and at 'Arak el Menshiyeh, there are broad plains, which make recesses in the general line of the higher hills. These are watered or intersected by the main branches of the Nahr Rubin and the Nahr Sukereir respectively.

Between these plains are low hills rising to 300 feet, and enclosing a hollow tract about five miles across, with the vil- lage of el Mesmiyeh in the centre, and others around, drained by affluents of the Sukereir. Through the south of this hollow passes the Wady es Sunt, which, under various names, collects many branches from the highland between Bethlehem and Hebron, and brings them into a focus at