Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/101

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WADY EL 'AtJJAH. 85

(alt. 2,024 feet), allowing the head of the Nuei'ameh, the next Jordan basin, to intervene. From Kubbet Kummamaneh it runs eastward to Umm Sirah, where it passes to the south- east to make a precipitous descent into the Ghor, on the north of 'Ain ed Duk and 'Ain en Nuei'ameh, from whence it bends round to the north-east by 'Osh el Ghurab, Maidan el Abd, Khurbet es Sumrah, and the Jordan on the south of the outfall at el 'Aujah.

The Watercourses of el 'Adjah Basin.

Three divisions of this basin may be distinguished, namely, Wady el Mellahah in the northern part ; Wady el 'Aujah in the centre ; and Wady Abu Obeideh in the south ; with their respective affluents.

Wady el Mellahah originates in a long swamp at the north- eastern extremity of the basin, and running along the eastern margin, joins el 'Aujah near the outfall. At the upper end of the swamp, it receives Wady Unkur edh Dhib, which rises on the south of Kh. Jibeit (alt. 2,146 feet), and skirts the northern margin of the basin. Two wadys with parallel courses to edh Dhib enter the swamp lower down ; and two more, in- cluding Wady Bakr, flowing in a similar direction, enter Wady Mellahah after it leaves the swamp. The Wady Mekur edh Dhib, on the south of Wady Bakr, is dispersed by irrigation channels in the Ghor, otherwise it would contribute to Mellahah.

From Wady Zakaska, where the Wady el Humr enters the Ghor, to Wady Bakr, the descent of the mountain side, at first precipitous, continues steep, and in the same line north and south. But on the right or south bank of Wady Bakr, the base of the mountains begins to be extended in the form of low hills for a mile and a-half eastward, and continues so southward to the Wady el 'Aujah.

South of Wady el 'Aujah, these hills are separated from the mountains by a plain (the Emek or Plain of Keziz Joshua xviii, 21), until they reach their southern limit, and

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