Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/26

10 10 THE MEDITERRANEAN WATERSHED.

branches of the Kasimiyeh from the ISTahr Bareighut or Derdera and other tributaries of the Jordan. Beyond the survey, the Kasimiyeh rises on the eastern side of the highest part of Lebanon, on the Dhor el Khodib or Jebel Akkar, about 70 miles north of the great bend where it falls into the Palestine Exploration Map. It drains the central and south- western parts of the valley of Hollow Syria, lying between Lebanon on the west, and Anti Lebanon with Mount Hermon on the east. In the south-eastern part of Hollow or Ccele Syria, the Kasimiyeh is divided from Herrnon by Jebel et Dahar and the Wady et Teim, in the basin of the Jordan. The Kasimiyeh basin is here confined to the eastern slopes of Tomat Niha, and the riyer runs in a vast chasm at the foot of that moun- tain, the twin peaks of which form the culminating summits of Southern Lebanon. At the southern end of that range, the chasm opens up into a small plain, and the basin expands a little, so as to include the Jermuk River which descends from the western side of Tomat Niha, and joins the Kasimiyeh about two miles north of Kulat esh Shukif or Belfort Castle. Here the river falls within the Survey, which, however, only extends to its southern bank, where it bends westward to the sea. On the north bank the basin is confined to narrow limits, and gives off only a few short branches to the main stream.

Within the Survey the basin of the Kasimiyeh is chiefly within the Wady el Hajeir and its tributary Wady Selukieh. The latter rises at Marun er Ras and joins the Hajeir in a deep gorge on the east of Burj Alawei. The Hajeir rises at el Jumeijmeh, and falls into the Kasimiyeh near the Bridge of K'ak'aiyeh. The direct distance between Marun er Ras and the Kasimiyeh exceeds fourteen miles. The width of this part of the basin varies from three to eight miles.

On the east of Wady el Hajeir, the Kasimiyeh, in bending to the west, receives the Wady 'Aizakaneh, from a valley on the south. The Wady 'Aizakaneh is in the same line as the main stream, before it bends to the west, but the course of the 'Aisakaneh is directly opposite. It rises near Hunin, and