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observable at the sections of the streams and rivers that we 
crossed, in particular the River Kishon showed banks certainly 
10 to 15 feet thick of rich black soil, and as the same thing 
was noticeable near Tiberias both localities being in the neigh- 
bourhood of volcanic outbursts it is probable that such richness 
is derived in a great degree from the decay of Basalt. 
Esdraelon Plain has a fine harbour at its Mediterranean 
end, the Bay of Acre sheltered from the south and west by 
Mount Carmel. There was a French Steamer there which had 
brought some hundreds of Pilgrims from France whilst 
I was at Haifa. It is a little town on the south side of the Bay, 
where a colony of some 500 Germans have established them- 
selves. A railway is projected from this Port to Damascus. The 
Haifa route promises to become the high road to the centre of 
Palestine. 
From the plains, taking the line of the section, we pass to 
the lower hills, “ The Shephelah,”* about 500 to 1000 feet above 
sea level, a tolerably fertile district, as in the plain of Ajalon, 
where, according to Scripture History, Joshua having effected 
a rapid flank march from Gilgal, near Jericho, made his 
furious attack on the five Canaanitish Kings who had combined 
against him and destroyed them. 
The Shephelah, according to Conder, consists of a white 
softish limestone with bands of brown quartz. Its escarpment 
faces the west. The Mountains rising to between 2000 and 3000 
feet above the sea consist of harder limestone (shown in Hull’s 
section as nummulitic) capped in parts with chalk. They are 
intersected by numerous ravines, marked by great meteoric 
denudation. 
Carriages passing from Jaffa to Jerusalem (about 37 miles) 
usually stop at Ramleh, Bab-Elwad, and Kolonieh. The plain 
of Sharon is passed before reaching Ramleh, and the Shephelah 
between that place and Bab-Elwad, which is probably 17 or 20 
miles from Jaffa. After passing Bab-Elwad the ascent to the 
* The Shephelah or Lowlands was the great battle ground of the Israelites 
with the Philistines and invaders from Egypt, Assyria, &c. The biblical division 
of Plain Shephelah and Mountain being distinctly marked in this locality. 
