Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/84

68 68 THE JORDAN WATERSHED.

Nain. On the south-west it is bounded by the heads of Nahr Jalud, until the secondary basin of Wady Yebla or 'Esh-sheh ('Osheh formerly) intervenes, along with three others of no magnitude.

The principal channel of this basin rises at its northern extremity and flows at the eastern base of Mount Tabor, receiving on the south-west of the mountain another branch which rises on the east of Nazareth, and descending between Iksal and Deburieh, the Chesulloth and Dabberath of Scrip- ture, passes the south of Mount Tabor to join the northern branch. There are many tributaries on both sides of the main stream, and one of them comes from the biblical Endor. The river passes from the hills into the Ghor or Valley of Jordan, by a fine gorge which has Kaukab el Hawa " the Star in the Air," on the southern summit. It is the remains of the Crusaders' Castle of Belvoir, and the ruins are occupied by a miserable peasantry.

THE BASIN OF NAHR JAL^D.

The permanent stream rises at 'Ain Jalud and 'Ain el Meiyiteh, near the village of Zerin, the ancient Jezreel. It waters the noted Valley of Jezreel, and the village of Beisan, the site of biblical Bethshean, and the later Scythopolis. Below Beisan it crosses the Ghor to enter the Jordan through the ravine of ed Duwaimeh.

The head of the basin lies between Jebel Duhy (alt. 1,690 feet), and Jebel Fuku'a or Mount Gilboa, which at Sheikh Burkan is 1,698 feet. It skirts the edge of the plain of Esdraelon through the villages of el 'Afuleh and Zerin. The plain is called also the Valley of Megiddo, and by the present inhabitants, Merj Ibn 'Amir. Esdraelon is the well known Greek form of Jezreel, and the " Plain " which extends from Zerin westward, must be distinguished from the " Valley " which descends rapidly from it, eastward to the Jordan.

The descent of the valley is thus defined. Zerin is 402 feet above the sea. The 'Ain Meiyiteh at the foot of the village, is only 60 feet above the sea ; the 'Ain Jalud