"كتيّب سوريا (بما في ذلك فلسطين). لندن: إدارة استخبارات الأركان البحرية، يونيو ١٩١٩" [ظ‎‎٢‎٦‎٢] (٧٣٨/٥٢٩)

518
GALILEE
In the following more detailed physical survey, the Esdrae-
lon plain, which in separating the highlands of Samaria from
those of Galilee forms such an outstanding feature, will be
treated first and then Lower and Upper Galilee in order from
south to north.
The Plain of Esdraelon and the Valley of Jezreel
The main area covered by the plain of Esdraelon, the modern
Merj ibn ‘Amir, consists of a triangle, the longest side of which
extends for a distance of some twenty-four miles from the
foot of Carmel to Jenin. The other two sides are equal, about
fifteen miles each, the northern being the base of the western
foothills of Galilee and the Nazareth Range, the eastern a line
from Iksal south-east of Nazareth running southward to Jenin
below the western foot of Nebi Duhi. East of this triangle
the plain sends out towards the Jordan valley three great
arms or bays, separated from each other by the ridges of Nebi
Duhi and J. Fuqu‘. A great part of the northerly bay, to
the west of Mount Tabor, and the most southerly, which
runs for about nine miles up the curved western slope of
J. Fuqu‘, decline towards the west and their waters drain into
the N. el-Muqatta‘. The middle arm, or bay, consists of
the broad Valley of Jezreel, which extends from the watershed
between Zer‘in and ‘Afuleh to the Jordan valley at Beisan.
The main area of plain has an average elevation of 200-250 ft.
above sea-level, and its drainage is carried by the Muqatta‘
to the north-west, where the narrow gorge in the neighbour
hood of Tell Qeimiin communicates with the plain of ‘Akka.
So uniform is the surface that it seems like the basin of a former
lake which has found its way to the Mediterranean and left
behind it the rich dark soil which has given this tract its
great fertility. The main disadvantage under which the plain
labours, from the point of view of full agricultural development,
is largely due to its natural facilities for drainage, and in this
respect it compares unfavourably with the Hauran, in spite of
the similarity in their soil. The decomposed red-brown lava
of the latter, mixed with volcanic ashes and sand, is seamed