Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/37

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NAHR NAMEIN, ETC.
21

respectively. Their junction takes place amidst a group of villages, including Kabry, et Tell, el Kahweh, el Ghabsiyeh, el Ferj, and el Jebakhanjy, amidst miles of gardens and orchards. The great fountain called el Kabry is here, and it supplies Acre with water through an aqueduct. The whole basin appears to be extremely fruitful and picturesque, and it retains many vestiges of antiquity.

The Semeirîyeh, Majnuneh, and Mefshukh basins, together with a very small but distinct tract between the outlets of Mefshukh and Kûrn, named Wady Sillik, complete the area surrounded by the basins of Wady el Kûrn and Nahr N'amein.

The Nahr N'amein Basin.

The Nahr N'amein is identified with the Belus or Pagida mentioned by Josephus and by Pliny. Its northern waterparting divides it from the Semeirîyeh, the Majnuneh, and the upper basin of Kûrn. This waterparting is, besides, a mountain range extending from the Jebelet el 'Arûs (alt. 3,520 feet) and presenting many bold and precipitous escarpments on its southern face, until it sinks into the maritime plain near Acre. The range forms the natural division between Upper and Lower Galilee. Except Jebelet el 'Arûs, the only height given along the range on the Palestine Exploration Survey is Jebel Heider (alt. 3,440 feet); until the mountain slopes downwards to the plain at el Judeiyideh (alt. 295 feet) and at el Mekr (alt. 191 feet). Captain Mansell's observations partly supply this want. He gives for Kûrn Hennawy (alt. 1,110 feet); for Mejd el Kerûm (alt. 1,294 feet); for the summit south of el Bukeiah, probably on the road to Seijûr (alt. 2,657 feet). As the Southern Range of Upper Galilee, it is further noticed in page 177.

The eastern waterparting of Nahr N'amein divides it from the Jordan basin, and from that division of it in particular which has its outfall by Wady er Rubudiyeh into the Sea of Galilee. It extends from Jebel Heider, near Beit Jenn to Ras Hazweh, near Arrabet el Buttauf. The direct length is