'A handbook of Syria (including Palestine). London: Naval Staff Intelligence Department, June 1919' [‎302v] (609/738)

598
‘AJLUN AND NORTHERN BELQA
northern slope proper has many known running brooks and
springs, and will certainly prove richer when it has been
surveyed. N. ez-Zerqa itself has good water throughout:
springs on its course for special mention are ‘Ain Ghazal,
3-4 miles below ‘Amman ; ‘Ain ez-Zerqa, Qal‘at ez-Zerqa,
‘Ain el-Jirm, 4 m. to the N. of that place ; and two hot
springs—‘Ain el-Ehmeimeh by the main fords to Jerash, and
Tell el-Hammeh near the outlet into the Ghdr. Wadis Rumman
and Rumeimln have running brooks and springs at the villages
bearing their names ; W. Selihah, an affluent of the latter
stream, has a fine waterfall. In the meadowland on the
depressed plain El-Buqei‘ there is a good spring at Khirbet
el-Basha, while above, on the high slopes to the S., the
Circassian village of Suweileh is abundantly supplied by more
than one copious spring. On the westerly route from Salt
to Jerash there is plentiful water at the ruins of ‘Allan and
Shfhan. Of conditions within the eastern bend of Zerqa less
is krfown : the route followed by Le Strange between ‘Amman
and Jerash would seem to be poorer in w^ater than those
farther west; but in a country so rich in pasture there must
undoubtedly be many sources yet to be discovered.
Forests .—A great part of this area is naturally rich in
timber. Before the war, the scantiness of the population
prevented denudation from spreading very fast, except in the
neighbourhood of the Circassian settlements; otherwise,
reckless pollarding by charcoal-burners and others, and the
destruction of young trees by goats, would have laid whole
tracts of once wooded country bare. The war has led to
systematic felling in tracts near practicable roads.
In Ajlun the wooded area is of forest density only to the west
of the main watershed, and thickest on the higher ground of
J. ‘Ajlun to the west of Suf. It extends northward over
Me‘rad and J. ‘Ajlun to beyond W. Tibneh, N. of the village of
that name; north of this region the country is comparatively
bare until the slopes of W. el-‘Arab are reached. Beyond this
wadi A seasonal or intermittent watercourse, or the valley in which it flows. another wooded zone bends from Umm Keis north-east
ward through El-Kefarat, then east towards the Hauran, finally