Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/251

235 THE JERUSALEM GROUP. 235

and el Tahta, or Beth Horon, upper and lower. The pass is along the ridge of a spur, which has an altitude of 2,545 feet above the sea on the edge of the Plain of el Jib. It divides into three at its base below Beit Ur et Tahta. The Jerusalem Jaffa road, comes to the ridge from el Jib, and follows it to Lower Beth-Horon, where it continues its descent by the southernmost prong of the triple fork to Beit Sira in the Plain of Yalo or Ajalon. No less than three main roads, and six minor roads meet at Beit Ur et Tahta.

On the south of the Beth Horon ridge, is Wady Selman, Suleiman, or Solomon, which also rises on the western edge of the Plain of el Jib, and descends to the Plain of Ajalon, on its way to el Kubab, Ludd, and Nahr el 'Auja. Another high road between Jerusalem and Jaffa, runs along the bottom of this gorge to the Plain of Ajalon, where it crosses one of the Beth Horon roads, and runs on to Berfilia, Ludd, and Jaffa. About a mile west of Jimzu, this road falls in with the parallel road on the north, from Beth Horon to Ludd, which passes under the ruins of Medieh, identified with Modin of the Maccabees. A spur commencing at the village of Beit Izza (alt. 2,620 feet), on the west of el Jib, forms the southern side of the upper part of the Selman gorge, and divides it from Wady el Marud or Keikabeh, an affluent which rises on the edge of the Plain of el Jib, between Beit Izza, Biddu, and el Kubeibeh, and unites with the Selman at the foot of Beit Ur el Foka. Below the junction of Wady el Marud, Wady Selman has for its southern bank, a spur that descends north-westward from the waterparting at Biddu, between Wady el Marud and Khallet el Kala, and originates in the prominent cone of Neby Samwil (alt. 2,935 feet), which rises in the midst of the Plain of el Jib. Another road from the Plain of Yalo to Jerusalem ascends this spur and passes Beit Likia, Beit Anan, el Kubeibeh, and Biddu.

From Kubeibeh, a range runs westward to the Plain of Yalo, with a broad slope to the north, but without any place of note ; another spur from Biddu, passes due west to the Wady el Kotneh and the village of Katanneh. At its