The great Valley of Sorek, which rises north of Jerusalem, and runs down by Zoreah (Sŭr’ah) and Beth Shemesh (’Ain Shemes), reaches the sea north of Yebnah. It is here called “Reuben’s River,” from the little enclosure sacred to the “Prophet Reuben,” which, from the middle ages, has been a Moslem shrine for pilgrimage. The harbour north-west of Yebnah is known also as Mînet Rubîn. The district round Yebnah is full of sacred shrines. Neby Shît or Seth, Neby Yûnis or Jonah, and Neby Kunda, probably “the Chaldean,” with many minor saints, have domes within a few miles of one another. The mosque of Yebnah, with its little minaret, was a Christian church, which was partly rebuilt and altered in 673 A.H. There are three other sacred places near it, one being a mosque dedicated to Abu Harîreh, Companion of the Prophet. The town of Yebnah stands on an isolated hillock, with olives to the north, and it is supplied by wells with water-wheels, or Sâkia, as at Ashdod. There is nothing of great antiquity at the place, and even the walls of the Crusading fortress of Ibelin, built at Yebnah in 1144 A.D., have disappeared. The Crusaders considered Yebnah (or Jamnia) to be the site of Gath; but, as usual, their views are not supported by the facts of earlier history. Three miles east of Jamnia the Valley of Sorek passes through a defile, having a hill on either side; on each hill a village stands above the rich corn-land, and each village is an ancient site. The southern--now Katrah--is supposed to be Gederoth; the northern, El Mŭghâr (“the Cave”) is the site which Captain Warren proposes for Makkedah. This latter is a remarkable place, and one of the most conspicuous sites in the plain. A promontory of brown sandy rock juts out southwards, and at the end is the village climbing up the hillside. The huts are of mud, and stand in many cases in front of caves; there are also small excavations on the north-east, and remains of an old Jewish tomb, with Kokim. From the caves the modern name is derived, and it is worthy of notice that this is the only village in the Philistine plain at which we found such caves. The proximity of Gederoth (Katrah) and Naamah (Na’aneh) to El Mŭghâr also increases the probability that Captain Warren’s identification of El Mŭghâr with Makkedah is correct, for those places were near Makkedah (Josh. xv. 41). North-east of Makkedah, Ekron still stands, on low rising ground--a mud hamlet, with gardens fenced with prickly pears. There is nothing ancient here, any more than at Ashdod or Jamnia, but one point may be mentioned which is of some interest. Ekron means “barren,” yet the town stood in the rich Philistine plain. The reason is, that north of the Sorek Valley there is a long sandy swell reaching to the sea-coast--an uncultivated district, now called Deirân, the Arabic name being equivalent to its old title, Daroma; Ekron stands close to this dry, barren spur, and above the fertile corn-lands in the valley.