"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [ظ‎‎٢‎٢‎٠] (٧٣٨/٤٤٥)

434 JUDAEA AND THE SOUTHERN DESERT
5-8 miles in breadth. The region consists principally of soft
chalky limestone forming groups of hills or downs inter
sected from E. to W. by a succession of main wadis from the
mountains of Judaea, the groups being again intersected
by N.-S. transverse shallows and fertile valleys. Viewed
as a whole, these hills present the aspect of an amphitheatre
encircling the plain of Philistia on the E.
The Shephelah, as a hill group, is separated from the main
Central ridge by a well-defined chain of broad and shallow
valleys—W. es-Sur, the plain of Es-Sant and W. en-Nejil—
running N. and S. from Wadi Selman to near Beersheba and
W. Ghazzeh; it is flung off as it were from the main system
into an independent group. Geologically the area has
a certain counterpart in the soft low hills which separate the
Central Range and Mt. Carmel, further N. (see p. 502 f.). In
some of the main cross valleys of the Shephelah are some
almost perennial water-courses and their bottoms consist of
broad pebbly beds intersected with patches of alluvial soil
which produces good corn. The terebinth and sycomore
fig are characteristic trees. Inhabited villages are frequent in
the district; but the unusual number of ruined cities scattered
all over the Shephelah shows that it was once more thickly
populated than it is now.
The Coastal Streams and Western Wadi Basins .—It would
be misleading to describe the streams of Southern Syria which
run into the sea south of Haifa, as rivers in the ordinary
acceptance of the term, with the possible exception of the
N. el-'Auja which, fed by strong springs, enters the sea a few
miles north of J affa; nor may they be described with certainty
as directly draining the Central ridge of Judaea and Samaria.
Robinson and others have regarded most of these streams
as deriving the bulk of the volume of their waters from direct
outflow from the very numerous wadis of the western slope
of the ridge; more recent observers, however, including
Dalmaij hold the view that no considerable amount of water
reaches the sea direc t from the mountain country even in the
ramy season and consider these water-courses purely as outlets