Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/169

153 THE PLAINS OF THE JORDAN. 153

from the east, the Eiver Hieromax of antiquity. This con- siderable affluent has had the effect of forcing the Jordan back towards the west, but it quickly turns east for half a- mile, and then takes up its former direction southward, for a short distance, and then returns south-westward to meet another advance of the hills, which close upon the river near the important passage of the Jordan, by the Bridge or Jisr Mujamia.

The GJior from Jisr Mujdmia to Nahr Jdllld.

On the west of the bridge, the hills fall back, and give this end of the plain the width of a mile, which expands at two miles farther south, to a width of two miles, chiefly owing to a remarkable bend of the Jordan, due east for more than half a-mile.

This easting of the river is maintained, and upon the whole increased, in course of the next three miles, when the river makes another sharp bend, and runs for half a-mile somewhat north of west. This bend is the beginning of a reaction of the Jordan towards the west, amounting to a mile and a half of westing, in two miles and a half of southing, the extreme point westward and the commencement of a new return eastward, occurring at the junction of the Nahr Jalud, which rises on the edge of the Plain of Esdraelon, and passes the ruins of Beisan.

Up to this point the western plain has a length of eight miles, from the beginning of this section near Jisr Mujamia ; and its width is, for the most part, about two miles. Besides the Nahr Jalud at the southern end, two other important permanent streams cross this section of the plain, namely (1) the Wady Bireh, which falls into the Jordan at a mile and three quarters south of Jisr Mujamia, and (2) the Wady el 'Esh-sheh, which joins the main stream four miles lower down.

Wady el Bireh enters the plain from a magnificent gorge, not remarkable for cliffs, but for its depth, and for the grand