WADY EL KELT. 95
the waterparting between the Nuei'ameh and Kelt basins, and through the village of Mukhmas. In the direction of these roads eastward from Mukhmas was probably the Hyenas' Eavine, called in the Bible the Valley of Zeboim " The way of the border that looketh to the Valley of Zeboim toward the Wilderness," 1 Sam. xiii, 18. " The border " in this passage cannot refer to the border between Judah and Benjamin, as it has been suggested, because the locality is in the central part of Benjamin. The original admits of being rendered thus " the way of the edge (or ridge) overlooking the Hyenas' Ravine in the wilderness." The Eavine of Wady Sikya would answer to this rendering, and if the Upland pastures of Makuk, Eijan, and Kelt, offered no plunder in those days, then the expedition would have had the plain of Jericho for its destination, as it was quite within reach,
Note on Ai, supplementary to page 92.
The name of Khurbet Haiyan is given to the remarkable ruins on this site by Lieut. Conder. Mons, Guerin calls them Kh. el Koudeireh, and describes them fully (Guerin, " Judee," iii, 57-62). Van de Velde's enlarged map of the Environs of Jerusalem has the same name. It appears on the Survey on the west of Haiyan, and quite apart from that. Dr. Eobinson, who discovered these ruins on the 4th of May, 1838, does not supply any modern name to them. He first mentions their identification with Ai doubtfully, as " the site with ruins south of Deir Diwan " (" Bib. Ees. " i, 443). Returning to the same place ten days afterwards, he examined it care- fully and recorded his measurements and notes. After further search he states that he " could come to no other result, than to assign as the probable site of Ai, the place with ruins just south of Deir Diwan." "Bib. Ees.," i, 573, 4, 5. Lieut. Conder has repeatedly included this site among his own identifications (" Handbook," 254, 402 ; "Tent Work," ii, 109; "Biblical Gains," 5, 20,) without any reference to Dr. Eobinson's prior claim, so that some
reminder seems necessary.
