Page:An Introduction to the Survey of Western Palestine.djvu/76

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60 THE MEDITERRANEAN WATERSHED.

the Wady el Ghurra, and the Wady Saweh, and joins Wady es Seba near Tell es Seba.

Above this junction, the Wady es Seba may be traced to its origin on the eastern waterparting about Khurbet el Kureitein ; from whence it runs southward as Wady el Kureitein to Khurbet el Milh, the site of Moladah (alt. 1,210 feet), where it bends abruptly to the west on its way to Beersheba.

From the confluence of the Wady el Khulil, the Wady es Seba proceeds by the west through the pastures of the 'Azazimeh and Terabin Arabs, to its junction with a great wady from the south, which will be an attractive feature in the extension of the Survey. At this point the Wady es Seba changes its name to Wady Guzzeh, and runs north-westward to its confluence with Wady esh Sheriah, and its further passage to the sea on the south-west of Gaza.

The Wady esh Sheriah drains the northern margin of the basin of Wady Ghuzzeh, from the sea to Tell Khuweilfeh. On the east it has the Wady It my and another affluent of Wady el Khulil, being separated from the latter by Tuweiyil abu Jerwal and Khashm el Buteiyir, names which are applied to a spur which stretches southward from the range of the northern waterparting to the Sahel Umm Butein or plain of Beersheba. The southern boundary of Wady Sheriah is the summit of a broad down, which undulates between the Sheriah and the Seba.

Two main branches divide the basin of Wady esh Sheriah and meet at Khurbet 'Erk. The northern branch is the recipient at Kh. Umm el Bakr, of several wadys which rise along the north-eastern edge .of the basin, from Kh. Umm Dabkal round by the east to Tuweiyil abu Jerwal (alt. 1,500 feet). The Wady Sheriah passes westward from Kh. Umm el Bakr to Tell esh Sheriah (alt. 400 feet), an ancient site identified with Shaaraim, the way to which place is connected with the long-lost city of Gath, in the account of the flight of the Philistines, after Goliath was slain by David, 1 Sam. xvii.

52. Between Tell esh Sheriah and the junction with the