Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/234

218 218 THE NORTHERN SAMARITAN HILLS.

in Ras el Bedd (alt. 1,760 feet) ; the next is capped by Ras Jadir (alt. 2,326 feet) ; the third rises to Jebel Tammun (alt. 1,960 feet) ; and the fourth predominates in Jebel el Kebir (alt. 2,610 feet). To these must be added the range between the Maleh Basin and the Jordan, which rises in Ras Umm Zokah to 840 feet above the sea, or 1,930 feet above the Jordan,

The interior valleys of this part of the northern section are included in the basins of Wady el Maleh, Wady el Bukei'a, and Wady Far'ah. The exterior are found on the slopes towards the Plain of Beisan, the Jordan, and the Wady el If jim.

The 'prolongation westward of the line of the If jim and Kerad, is distinctly found at the base of the same ridge, in the mid-channel of the Plain of Salim ; and further west, in the watercourse which joins it through Wady esh Shejur, from the great gap between the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, in which the city of Nablus is situated. Westward of Nablus, the line is taken up and carried to the Plain of Sharon by the Wady esh Shair, or Zeimer, which lies at the southern base of a mountain range on the north, that culminates in a summit dedicated to Sheikh Beiazid (alt. 2,375 feet). The Wady esh Shair is continued to the sea as Nahr Iskanderuneh, and throughout defines the limit of features as distinct of their kind as those on the eastern slope. To trace these in order, it is necessary to recur to the description of the eastern slope, and connect it with the northern and central parts of the section.

The northernmost of the ranges on the eastern slope, culminating in Ras el Bedd, joins the main waterparting at Ras Ibzik (alt. 2,404 feet). Its slope to the Plain of Beisan is a portion of the northern escarpment of the Samaritan Plateau. From Ras Ibzik, the summit of the scarp is continued along the main waterparting to Tannin (alt. 1,460 feet). From Tannin to Mount Carmel, the same line of summit is found along the south-western waterparting of the Mukutt'a Basin.