"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [و‎‎٢‎٤‎٠] (٧٣٨/٤٨٤)

PHYSICAL FEATURES
473
compact mass, presenting the aspect of a single mountain
massif, the Samarian section of the range, especially towards
the north, becomes more strictly a succession of high plateaux
and terrace-like slopes and finally, in the extreme north
of the district, gets broken up into more or less isolated
groups of hills interspersed with plains. Judaea is a dissected
plateau of hard horizontal limestone while Samaria is a moun
tainous region of gently tilted strata of varying hardness
declining gently northward, with the result that the land
of Samaria is of a much more open character than that of
Judaea. The transition from the Judaean plateau to the
Samarian mountains is not sufficiently pronounced to indicate
any inevitable physical boundary between the two districts.
The eastern slope of the district is not nearly so deep as in
Judaea and is not so well watered as the western slope ;
but is far from being an absolute desert like that of Judaea.
The highlands of Samaria extend northward in two pro
minent spurs of Carmel and J. Fuqu‘. The former runs
as a long straight ridge from SSE. to NNW., about 15 miles
in length until it terminates in a high promontory on the
coast of the Mediterranean, forming the southern headland
of the Bay of ‘Akka. The ridge of Carmel is connected
with the main hills of Samaria by a range of lower rounded
hills, the Belad er-Ruhah, about 10 m. in length separat
ing the plain of Esdraelon on the NE. from that of Sharon
on the W. ; see further, pp.„500ff., for physical features of
Carmel. The other and much shorter spur of J. Fuqu‘
protrudes some 5 or 6 miles towards the Esdraelon plain
where it terminates in a steep and almost bare wall of rocks.
The chief summits of the Samarian highlands, naming from
the south, are : Jebel et-Tor or Mt. Gerizim (alt. 2,849 ft.)
and J. es-Suleimiyeh (Eslamiyeh) or Mt. Ebal (3,077 ft.) on
the south and north side respectively of Wadi Nablus,
Sheikh Beyazid (2,375 ft.) north of Sebastiyeh, Ras-el Aqra‘
(2,230 ft.), and Ras Ibziq (2,404 ft.) north of Tubas, all
elevations of the main watershed ; J. Abu Mad war
(1,648 ft.), the highest point of the FuqiY spur ; J. Iskander