'The Expedition for the survey of the rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by order of the British government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837; preceded by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between the rivers Nile and Indus. In four volumes. With fourteen maps and charts, and embellished with ninety-seven plates, besides numerous wood-cuts. Volume the first.' [‎519] (608/905)

CHAP. XX.]
PLAINS OF MOAB.
519
direction from tlie interior to the shores of the Dead Sea;
again, southward is Wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. Kuneiyeh, which runs nearly west
ward from the slopes of Jebel Urukaraiyeh to the southern
extremity of that sea, in the valley of El Ahsa. From its
source, near the castle of El Ahsa, the Nahr-el-Assal, or
Honey River, 1 flows westward between Kerak and Jebal;
taking, in the lower part of its course, the name of the
Kurahy ; and, owing to a hot spring, called the Bath of
Solomon, which empties itself into the main stream, the latter
becomes almost tepid, 2
The valley of El Ahsa resembles that of Mojeb, but is less ei ahsa.
rugged, as the stream flows for the most part through a deep
and narrow bed of rocks overgrown with the defle shrub:
this stream probably represents the Zared of Scripture, the
boundary between the Edomites and Moabites. 3
The surface of Kerak is less hilly than that which is on the
north of the Anion (El Belka), but still it is more diversified
than the country lying eastward and north-eastward. In some
places it is eminently fertile; and although nearly the whole
surface is at present a wilderness, or contains only the pasture
tracts of the Bedawins, the numerous remains of former culti
vation, the many ancient sites and Roman mile-stones, give
abundant proofs of the populousness of the whole region in
former times.
Besides the plains lying eastward between the mountains of Central pia-
Tarfuyeh and the borders of Arabia, there appears to be a kind teau "
of plateau in the centre of the country, the northern part of
which, called El Kura, extends from the valley of Mojeb
almost to the foot of Jebel Attarus, in the Belka; and this
probably represents the plains of Moab ; 4 the latter retained
the name after the northern part of the territory was taken by
the Amorites, to whose country this portion properly belonged.
With some exceptions, the plain in question is also prolonged
from the valley of the Mojeb southward, through the centre
1 Irby and Mangles' Travels, p. 359.
2 Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, p. 401.
3 Irby and Mangles' Travels, p. 444.
4 Numbers, chap. XXXVI., v. 13; and Burckhardt's Travels in Syria, p. 371.