Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/259

243 THE HEBRON GROUP. 243

and a longer one reaches to the lower part where it joins Wady el Jindy. The next spur divides Wady el Jindy from Wady el Werd, and terminates at the head of Wady en Najil. Five more spurs descending from the ridge to Wady en Najil complete its southern slope.

Between el Khudr and Balutet el Yerzeh, the main range descends to Wady Musurr, and from the Balutet a long range extends westward to Wady es Sunt, and divides Wady el Jindy from Wady Helwas. It has the small village of Jeba on its summit. Between Balutet el Yerzeh and Khurbet Jedur, the main range descends by short spurs to Wady el 'Abhar, a branch of Wady Helwas. The villages of Safa and Surif are on this part of the slope. Between Khurbet Jedur and Hulhul, all the ridges descend to Wady es Sur or its affluents ; and the villages of Kharas, Nuba, and Beit Aula, are situated in a line on the lower part of the slope. A ridge running direct west from near Hulhul to the head of Wady Bir es Suweideh, and then bending northward along the left bank of the latter wady, divides the affluents of Wady Sunt from those of Wady Afranj, both being in the Sukereir basin. From near Hulhul to Dura on the main range, the spurs fall to Wady el Afranj. At Dura, the advance of the main range towards the west, reduces the length of the western slope ; and the contraction gradually comes to a point at Kh. Khuweilfeh from the same cause. A north-westerly spur from Dura divides the Afranj from the affluents of Wady el Ghueit, which is the southernmost of the great divisions of the Nahr Sukereir basin. Only a mile south of Dura, the waterparting between the Sukereir and el Hesy basins emanates from the main range at Eas el Biain, and is formed by a long range running westward to the sea at Ascalon. It is the slope drained by the affluents of the Ghueit, between Idhna and Beit 'Auwa, which breaks the continuity of the meridional valleys, that form the division between this mountain group and the Shephelah. But a careful study of the Survey, coupled with Dr. Kobinson's notes, leads to the conclusion that in this part the separation