232 THE MOUNTAINS OF JUD^A.
wide ; it strongly emphasises the division between the high- land and lowland, and is one of the characteristic features of this part. ' The continuity of the meridional valleys is broken at Yalo, but it is soon renewed again by a valley descending from the south towards Latron, and by another running southward to Wady es Surar, between Surah (Samson's Zorah), and Artuf. At Artuf, the Wady en Najil falling into Wady es Surar prolongs the meridional series, which is carried still farther south by affluents of Wady es Sunt, especially Wady es Sur. The distance from Wady Malakeh to the head of Wady es Sur is about 24 miles.
The distinction between the lowland hills and the moun- tains on the east of them, is definitely expressed by the series of altitudes observed along the high road between Jaffa and Jerusalem. The plain at the foot of the hills near Ludd, is 165 feet above the sea; and the rise goes on steadily for eight miles up to 940 feet at Bir Main, or 960 feet, a little beyond. Here the hills drop down suddenly to the Plain of Yalo (Ibn Amir or Ajalon), where the lowest observation i? 685 feet. East of the plain, the mountains of Judah rise rapidly, and reach an altitude of 2,172 feet, near Beit Anan, about two miles from their base on the edge of the plain, or four miles from the level of 685 feet before mentioned. About three miles further east, the altitude is 2,621 feet at Beit Izza. This place is on the waterparting which divides the basins of Nahr el 'Auja and Nahr Rubin. Here this waterparting also coincides with the western boundary of the great Plain of Gibeon, or el Jib, drained by the Wady Beit Hannina and its affluents. The eastern edge of the plain is the main waterparting between the basins of the Mediter- ranean and the Jordan. The Plain of el Jib is thus on the summit of the Highlands of Judaea ; and the direction of its drainage designates it as a portion of the series of great lateral valleys, which, while they form parts of the general slopes on either side of the main axis lie at right angles to the slope, and parallel with the axis, and thus greatly facilitate communication.
The northern limit of the Plain of el Jib in its fullest
