Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/93

77 WADY FAR' AH. 77

latter being a thousand feet higher than the former, in the lowest grounds.

(1.) The southern or more elevated part, includes the con- tinuous Sahels or Plains of Rujib, Askar, and Salim.

The plain of Rujib is a continuation northward of the noted plain of Mukhnah, and it is commonly considered to be a part of the latter. Both are traversed by the high-road between Nablus and Jerusalem. The only separation between them is the waterparting of the basins of Wady Far'ah and Wady el 'Auja, on the south-west of the village of Rujib. It is indicated by the commencement of a more rapid descent on the side of Rujib.

On the north, the Plain of Rujib is succeeded by the Plain of Askar, the biblical Sychar, John iv, 5. The division takes place where the hills recede westwards towards Nablus, and eastward towards Salim, the Shalem of Jacob, Genesis xxxiii, 18 ; but not the Salim of St. John's Gospel, ch. iii, ver. 23. " Now Jacob's well was there " (St. John iv, 6), and is still, on the southern edge of the plain, just half a mile south of Askar. The plain of Askar is bounded on the north by a range of mountains, an extension eastwards from Mount Ebal, dividing the southern part of the Far'ah basin from the northern part, and culminating in Jebel el Kebir (alt. 2,610 feet). The connection of the watercourses on either side of the range, is effected through its intersection by a deep and narrow gorge or chasm named Wady Beidan. The chasm at the entrance from the Plain of Askar, is about 1,500 feet above the sea ; but it is only about 600 feet at its exit on the north side of the range, at the foot of Neby Belan (alt. 2,500 feet). The altitude of Wady Beidan is considerably lower, at a distance of a mile and half to the east, where the stream from the mouth of the chasm, joins the waters of Wady Far'ah.

Towards the east, the Plain of Askar is followed con- tinuously by the Plain of Salim ; the division between them being defined by the Wady esh Shejar. The eastern extremity of the Plain of Salim is the waterparting between this por-