Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/267

251 THE SHEPHELAH OR PHILISTIA. 251

the Mahaneh or camp of Dan is Khurbet Kila, or the ruined fort. Spurs from the outer range divide it from the Vale of Sorek on the south and from the Wady el Khalil on the north. The greatest length of this block is about six miles, and its breadth exceeds four miles.

On the north of Wady el Khalil is another division of the range, with the Wady Harir on its north-eastern base, and the Plain of Akir or Ekron on the south-west. The north- western boundary is traced from the Plain of Ekron along Wady Bahlas, to an affluent of Wady Harir, having Eas Abu Hamid at its outlet. The only biblical site on this block is at Tell Jezar identified with Gezer by M. Ganneau, and having now in its neighbourhood the modern village of Abu Shusheh. The natural character of this mass is in contrast with the first, for the highest part instead of being on the exterior, is in the centre where it forms a crater-like summit from which the slopes descend on all sides. The highest point is 850 feet above the sea.

The northernmost and third division of this series consists of a low range which stretches from el Mughar northward to Beit Dejan, a distance of twelve miles, and spreads west- ward to the sandy downs which separate the hills from the sea. This range forms the western boundary of the Plain of Eamleh and Ludd on the north and the Plain of Ekron on the south. One of its central valleys is Wady Deiran, a word probably derived from Daroma, an ancient name of this district. The highest part of this undulating track is 261 feet.

II.

The next division includes the hills between Wady es Surar and Wady es Sunt, which may be reckoned on an average about four miles apart. Here also are some distinct features. On the east there is a ridge extending from the Sunt to the Surar, with a short slope of about half a mile towards the eastern limit of the Shephelah in Wady en Najil ; and a longer slope of about two miles towards the