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220 220 THE NORTHERN SAMARITAN HILLS.

tating communication between north and south cannot be overrated.

The first in the series is the Valley of Jelbon (alt. 1,062 feet) which measured between the summit of Jebel Abu Madwar and the saddle which terminates it on the south, is three miles in length. It lies on the western side of the main waterparting, and its drainage passes off through a gorge in the western range, and reaches the Plain of Esdraelon as Wady en Nust This valley is divided from the next on the south by the transposition of the main water- parting to the western side of the next valley. The elevation of the valleys makes the separation slight, and their connec- tion is maintained by a road across the low saddle that divides their waters.

The second valley is of greater extent, more curious in its structure, and divided into two distinct parts with a village in each. The main waterparting, in crossing from east to west, forms its northern boundary, and divides it from the Vale of Jelbon (Gilboa). Continuing to the south-west as far as Tannin, the parting bounds the valley in that direction, and has the village of Jelkamus (alt. 1,308 feet) on its summit. At Tannin, the main waterparting bends sharply to the south-east, as far as Has Ibzik, where it is again on the same line that it described on the east of Jelbon. The Jelbon range, though it ceases to be the waterparting, is not lost, for it passes straightway to E-as Ibzik, and forms the eastern enclosure of the elevated valley under notice, as well as the summit of the slope that descends from it to the Plain of Beisan.

The interior of the second valley forms two divisions so distinct that they must bear separate names derived from their respective villages, El Mughair on the north, and Eaba pn the south. The drainage of the northern part originates on the eastern range, and runs westward along the northern waterparting, till that feature bends to the south-west, and causes the drainage to take the same direction, passing the village of El Mughair (alt. 1,072 feet). The drainage of the