Our last Philistine camp was at the edge of the low hills, in a fig-garden, just south of Dhenebbeh. We reached it on the 8th of May, and left on the 15th, on which day we completed one thousand square miles, which had been surveyed in eleven weeks, since the 25th of February—the most rapid piece of work during the whole course of the Survey.
The village of Dhenebbeh lies south of Wâdy Sŭrâr, the old Valley of Sorek. The view up this valley, looking eastward, is picturesque. The broad vale, half a mile across, is full of corn, and in the middle runs the white shingly bed of the winter torrent. Low white hills flank it on either side, and the high rugged chain of the mountains of Judah forms a picturesque background. On the south, among the olives, is the ruin of Beth Shemesh, to which place the lowing kine dragged the rude cart through the barley-fields. On the north, a little white building with a dome is dedicated to Sheikh Samat, and stands close to Zoreah.
Such is a slight sketch of the Philistine campaign, the full details of which must be left to be enumerated in the memoir of the map, of which they form a large section. We must hasten on now to other questions of greater interest and importance.
CHAPTER XIX.
GALILEE.
THE Philistine campaign was followed by three weeks’ rest at Jerusalem during the east winds of May. On the 8th of June we once more marched out with our whole expedition, intending to finish the northern district, of 1000 square miles, within the year, if possible.
One of the principal pieces of work to be done was the running of a line of levels from the Mediterranean to the Sea of Galilee, for which purpose the British Association had voted £100. The line which I chose, and which was approved, was the shortest possible, and Wâdy el Melek afforded us a most convenient line of ascent to the Buttauf Plain, whence we were to descend to Tiberias. Under my direction, nineteen miles were run in 1875, and in 1877 Lieutenant Kitchener finished the remaining seventeen miles on the low ground, which could not be entered in summer. By this means the level of the Sea of Galilee, variously computed at from 300 to 600 feet below the Mediterranean, has been fixed as 682·5 feet.