Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/50

34 34 THE MEDITERRANEAN WATERSHED.

a branch unites which drains the north-west border of Merj el Ghuruk (alt. 1,770 feet). The main channel continues along the southern edge of the basin, passing Deir el Ghusun (alt. 827 feet), Attil (alt. 385 feet), Jelameh and el Mejdel to the junction at Tell edh Dhrur. Above Deir el Ghusun, a branch falls in from Batn en Nury (alt. 1,660 feet), and the village of Ellar (alt. 760 feet). Jelameh on the edge of the plain is 260 feet high, while the wady at its foot in the plain is 60 feet.

Another considerable affluent joins Wady el Khudeirah from the north-east. Its principal branch is Wady Arah which skirts the north-western limit of the basin, and rises at Umm el Fahm, on the mountain of Sheikh Iskander fait. 1,699 feet). The Wady Arah passes between Kefr Kara (alt. 451 feet) and Ararah (alt. 707 feet), and enters the Plain of Sharon between Kh. ez Zebadneh (alt. 320 feet) and Kerkur (alt. 160 feet), joining Wady el Khudeirah near Tell edh Dhrur (alt. 152 feet). Its principal branch is the Wady el 'Asl, which rises near Yabid (alt. 1,220 feet), and passes Kuffin (alt. 460 feet), where it receives a tributary from Ferasin (alt. 727 feet). At the ruins of el Medhiab, the Wady el 'Asl is joined by a wady from the north, which unites Wady Samantar, Wady el Yahmur, and Wady Easein, all draining the western slope of the wooded upland of Umm el Khataf. Below el Medhiab, the wady is called Wady Bir Isir, and it enters the plain near el Mes'ady (alt. 142 feet), and soon joins Wady el Khudeirah. See p. 218.

The whole of the Mefjr basin, with half of the Zerka on the north, or as far as Kannir, and a small part of the Iskanderuneh on the south, or up to Kakon, was supposed to have its outfall by Nahr Abu Zabura, which is now called Nahr Iskanderuneh. Dr. Eobinson on his last journey in Samaria, travelled from Umm el Fahm to Ya'bud (Yabid) along the waterparting. From Ya'bud he had a view of the Plain of Arrabeh and passed Ferasin to Abu Nar, on his way to Attil, thus crossing the basin at its widest part.*


 * Eobinson's "Biblical Researches," iii, 121 IJI.