Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/42

 of the main stream from the highlands of Nazareth; and three smaller ones come from the oak-clad hills which are interposed between the Plain of Esdraelon and the Maritime Plain of Acre. These forest hills mse to altitudes of 600 feet, and the Mukutt'a forces its way to the sea through a gorge which divides them from Mount Carmel (alt. 1,810 feet).

The tributaries on the left bank are more numerous than noteworthy. West of el Lejjun a spur descends from the waterparting (alt. 1,290 feet) to the village of Ludd (alt. 275 feet) and the Mukutt'a River (alt. 150 feet). On the slopes of this spur are found remains of the ancient city of Megiddo. On the east it sends off a perennial branch to the Lejjun tributary. On the west its numerous rivulets are spread out from Buseileh to Abu Shusheh and reach the Mukutt'a by four outfalls.

Northward of the spur, the steep descent of the highlands of Ephraim, terminates in the plain about midway between the waterparting and the course of the Mukutt'a, until the foot of Mount Carmel is reached, when the Mukutt'a dives into the gorge which leads it to the maritime plain and the Bay of Acre. Between Abu Shusheh and Mount Carmel three notable affluents on this side of the Mukutt'a are—(1) a perennial stream which descends from the village of Jarah (alt. 834 feet);—(2) another perennial stream which waters Kh. er Rihaneh and Kh. el Farriyeh;—and (3) the Wady el Milh, which drains the southern end of Mount Carmel, including el Mahrakah (alt. 1,687 feet) the place of Elijah's conflict with the priests of Baal, also the eastern face of Umm ez Zeinat, passing from the hills at the foot of Tell Keimûn (git. 248 feet).



The north-eastern face of Carmel with the watercourses which furrow it and descend to the Mukutt'a, and the pathways that surmount it from various points of the highway that skirts its base on both sides, are now so distinctly 