Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/216

200 200 THE MOUNTAINS OF LOWER GALILEE.

the wady is at the level of the sea, and there the depression of the Jordan Basin commences in this locality, The central part of this upland gives its name to the District of esh Shaghur ; the western is in the District of Shefa 'Amr, and the eastern descends from esh Shaghur, by the Wady er Eubudlyeh to the Plain of el Ghuweir or Gennesaret. The western part of these hills has been noticed on p. 124.

The summit of this upland is a plateau between two ranges, one of which is easily defined, for it is coincident with the waterparting between the N'amein and Eubudiyeh basins on the north, and the Mukutt'a and el Hamam basins on the south. The Survey supplies no altitudes along this range, west of Jebel ed Deidebeh (alt. 1,781 feet). The alti- tude at Kh. Jefat (alt. 1,363 feet), is no doubt inferior to that of the range, which was observed again further east at Eas Kruman (alt. 1,817 feet) and at Eas Hazweh (alt. 1,781 feet). The range lies between Kh. Natef (alt. 635 feet) and Ailbun (alt. 515 feet), and it is doubtless higher. The range continues along Jebel et Teiyarat, and el Muntar, to War 'Atmeh, but no heights have been observed along this waterparting.

The other range did not escape the notice of that masterly observer, Dr. Eobinson, and with his assistance chiefly, the new survey enables it to be distinctly traced. Beginning with Shefa 'Amr ('Omar), Dr. Eobinson remarks that it is " on a ridge overlooking the plain."* The altitude on the map at 'Ain Shefa 'Amr, is 136 feet. But that must represent the edge of the plain at the foot of the ridge, for Captain Mansell, E.IST., ascertained the height of Shefa 'Amr to be 533 feet.f The width of the plateau is here about two miles, or the distance of Shefa ' Amr from the waterparting ridge on the south, which is stated by M. V. Guerin to be 200 metres, or about 650 feet at Jebel Kharouba, a summit occupied by Saladin during his conflict with the Crusaders under Eichard the Lion-hearted, and Philip Augustus.

The range is continued through 'Abellin, two miles north-

f Admiralty Chart.
 * Rob. "Bib. Res." ITT, 103.