Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/85

69 NAHR JALUD. 69

within two miles of Zerin, is 120 feet below the sea level. Beisan is on the edge of a broad terrace, which extends southward along the foot of the mountains for several miles at a height of 322 feet below the sea. The terrace has a steep descent to the Ghor or upper valley of the Jordan, which is here between 700 and 800 feet below the sea. The edge of the terrace above the Ghor, is traversed by the ancient road between Nablus and Beisan. The Eiver Jordan itself runs in a narrow trench through the Ghor, at a still lower depth, which does not appear to have been observed nearer than Jisr Mujamia, minus 845 feet, and at the foot of the ancient road which leads from the Jordan south-westward to Wady Farrah. At this point the river is minus 1,080 feet, which would make it about 950 feet below the sea near Beisan.

From Sheikh Barkan to Beisan and the Jordan, the southern edge of the Nahr Jalud basin is undistinguishable among an intricate network of irrigation works and neglected swamps, which extend from Beisan southward to Wady Shubash.

The wadys descending from Mount Gilboa (Jebel Fukua) to Nahr Jalud appear to be mere seams in the side of the mountain and require no further notice.

The wadys from the northern edge of the basin are more remarkable. The head of the basin including the south side of Jebel Duhy (alt. 1,690 feet) and the edge of the valley passing through el 'Afuleh to Zerin is drained by the affluents of Wady el Hufiyir, which with another distinct wady from Jebel Duhy, joins the stream from 'Ain el Meiyiteh, before its junction with the waters of 'Ain Jalud.

From the slopes east of Jebel Duhy and around the village of en Naurah, the Wady es Sidr descends to 'Ain Tub'aun, a spring which rises close on the left bank of the Nahr Jalud, facing 'Ain Jalud on the right bank. The Wady es Sidr does not however join the Nahr Jalud, for it main- tains an independent and parallel course as an aqueduct called Kanat es Sokny as far as the Khan el Ahmar, where it runs off' northward of the village to the Wady el Khaneizir.

The discovery of 'Ain Tub'aun is of historical interest. It