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is hushed for the night. It has been remarked, that if Newton had been a bee, he could not have constructed the combs, or cells, with more geometrical exactness. In a hive of bees are commonly found from fifteen to eighteen thousand inhabitants; over which there is alwas a queen, that reigns absolute. The queen is distinguished from the other bees, by the form of her body; she is longer and larger than they are, and her wings are much shorter than theirs in proportion to her body. Her hinder parts are more taper than those of the other bees; her belly and legs are of a deep golden yellow. A hive of bees cannot subsist without a queen, as she lays all the eggs, and thus produces the whole posterity. No other earthly monarch has such obedient subjects. If you take the queen, wherever you put her in sight, the whole hive will follow, and presently surround her; and when a queen happens to die, the bees of her hive immediately leave working, consume their honey, fly about their own and other hives at unusual hours when other bees are at rest, and pine away, if not soon supplied with another sovereign. .....Virgil, Encyclopædia.

HOP, a narcotic plant of the creeping kind, the flower of which is an ingredient in beer and ale. In some parts of Europe vast profits are made by cultivating this plant. It is stated in a late publication, that in England and Wales, there are forty-four thousand acres of hop ground, producing, on an average, thirty pounds sterling an acre. Cloth has been manufactured in England from hop-stalks, by rotting them in water, and dressing them in the manner of flax. To promote this kind of manufacture, the London society for the encouragement of arts, &c. in the year 1799, offered a premium of a gold medal, or 30 guineas, to the person who should present to the society the greatest quantity, not less than thirty yards of cloth, at least 27 inches wide, made in Great Britain of hop stalks or bines, and superior to any other hitherto manufactured in England of that material....New London Review.

HORNET, a large strong fly, whose body is long, and of a bluish colour, and whose tail is armed with

formidable sting. It would hardly be thought that these furious and vindictive little animals could be rendered tame and amicable by gentle usage: yet Mr. J. Hector St. John, in his farmer's letters, assures us, that in the middle of his parlour he had a curious republic of industrious hornets, hanging to the ceiling by the same twig on which it was built in the woods: that they lived on flies, and were busy in catching them even on the eye-lids of his children, besmearing them with a sort of glue, and then carrying them to their nests as food for their young ones; that his family had become so accustomed to their strong buzzing as to take no notice of them; and that notwithstanding their fierce and vindictive nature, kindness and hospitality had rendered them useful and harmless.

HORSE, a well known, useful, and noble animal. Buffon remarks, that the horses used by the great men in the Indies, are fed with hay during the day, and at night, in place of barley and oats, they get pease boiled with sugar and butter. This nourishing diet supports them, and gives them some strength: without it, they would soon perish; the climate not being adapted to their constitution. In scarcity of provision, they give them opium, which has the same effect both on horses and men; for it at once damps their appetite, and enables them to undergo fatigue. The common food of Arabian horses, which consists of dates and camel's milk, is given them every morning, and at night. These aliments, instead of fattening them, render them meagre, nervous, and very fleet. The colts spontaneously suck the she-camels, which they follow till the time they are ready for mounting, which is not before the age of six or seven years. It is a piece of natural history useful to be generally known, that, as horses moult, or cast their hair every year, commonly in the spring, and sometimes also in the autumn; they then are weaker than at any other periods, and consequently require more care, and should be more plentifully fed....Çlark.

HOST, an army or multitude: the name is often applied to the heavenly bodies. The Host of Heaven, mentioned in the scriptures, as worshipped by the an

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cient heathen nations, and sometimes by the Israelites, meant the celestial orbs. The names of these orbs being male and female, the male orbs were called Baalim, and the female Ashtaroth. Baal, or Bel, in the eastern language, signified Lord, and when used in the singular number, meant the Sun, the supposed Lord or King of the celestial bodies: Baalim, the plural of Baal, meant Lords, or the celestial orbs, under the government of Baal, or the Sun, as their supreme head. The moon was styled the Queen of Heaven, and was sometimes worshipped under the name of Astarte, and sometimes under that of Diana; while the female planets, under the government of the Queen of Heaven, or the Moon, were called Ashtaroth. The worship of Ashtaroth was peculiarly attractive to the women: hence, Solomon's strange wives enticed him, against his better knowledge, to build a High Place for Ashtaroth, (called Chemosh) on a hill before Jerusalem. The Host of Heaven, or the celestial orbs, were worshipped on hills and mountains, called in scripture, High Places; because there the clearest and fullest view of them could be obtained.

HOTTENTOTS, a singular description of people, who inhabit the Cape of Good Hope, and along the sea coasts in the southern parts of Africa. They are as tall as most Europeans, but more slender; their skin is of a dingy yellow; their teeth is the finest imaginable. They are remarkable for their honesty, and fidelity, nor seem lacking in native powers of mind; but are the laziest and filthiest among human beings. Both men and women generally go bare-headed, and seldom wear shoes; they are clothed with sheep-skins; the wool being worn outward in summer, and inward in winter: both sexes wear rings of iron, copper, brass, or ivory, about their legs and arms. They besmear their bodies with butter or sheep's fat, mixed with soot, and cook their victuals in the most filthy manner. Their huts are small, and commonly filled with smoke ; which seems not to injure or offend their eyes, as they have been accustomed to it from their infancy. They wear in their countenances the evident marks of contentment; they discover an abundant flow of spirits; and frequently live to old age. There are many tribes of

172 HOWLING MONKEY....HUDSON's BAY.

Hottentots, among which the Boshmans seem to be the most savage and the most degraded. The Boshmans inhabit the mountains in the interior part of the country. Many of them go entirely naked; houses made of bushes, and clefts of the rocks, are their dwellings; and wild roots, berries, plants, caterpillars, ants, locusts, snakes, and spiders, eaten raw, are their food.

HOWLING MONKEY, a species of monkeys which inhabit the woods of Brazil and Guiana, in South America, and take their name from the noise they make. Several of them assemble together, one placing himself on a higher branch, the rest placing themselves in a regular order below him: the first then begins as if to harangue with a loud tone, which may be heard a great distance. At a signal made with his hand, the rest join in regular chorus, the most dissonant and tremendous that can be conceived; on another signal they all stop, except the first, who finishes singly, and all the assembly breaks up. These monkeys are very fierce, and so wild and mischievous, that they can neither be conquered nor tamed. They live in trees and leap from bough to bough with wonderful agility, catching hold with their hands and tails, as they throw themselves from one branch to another.... Winterbotham.

HUDSON's BAY, a vast bay of North America, and may properly be called the American Mediterranean; lying north of Canada, and extending about three hundred leagues in length, and, at its broadest part, a hundred and thirty leagues in width. It took its name from captain Henry Hudson, who discovered and entered it, in the year 1610. This voyage put a period to the useful adventures of that enterprising and skilful mariner. His crew mutinied, seized upon him, and seven of those who were most faithful to him, and committed them to the icy seas in an open boat: they were never more heard of. The oath by which the conspirators bound themselves to execute their horrible plot, can scarce find a parallel, for hypocrisy, in the history of human wickedness: it was as follows. "You shall "swear truth, to God, your prince and country; you "shall do nothing but to the glory of God, and the good

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"of the action in hand, and harm no man." The British have settlements on the confines of this bay, which carry on the fur trade, under the direction of the Hudson Bay company.

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HUDSON's RIVER, one of the largest and finest rivers of the United States; rising in a mountainous country, between the lakes Ontario and Champlain ; running in its whole course (two hundred and fifty miles) through the state of New-York; and emptying into York Bay. Its course from Troy to New-York, is south westerly it is navigable for ships to Hudson, and for sloops of an hundred tons to Albany. The principal trading towns on this river, are, 1st. Lansingburgh and Troy, situated on the eastern bank; the former nine, and the latter six miles above Albany. 2d. Albany, the seat of government, and the great emporium of the increasing trade of a large extent of country west and north; situated on the west bank of the river, one hundred and sixty miles north of the city of New-York. 3d. Hudson, on the east side of the river, one hundred and thirty-two miles north of New-York city. 4th. Catskill, situated on a creek, about a hundred rods from the western bank of the river, five miles south of Hudson city. 5th. Poughkeepsie, lying a mile from the east bank of the river and eighty-four miles from its mouth. 6th. Newburgh, on the west bank of the river, sixty-six miles from New-York. The river Hudson took its name from captain Henry Hudson, who discovered it. The Dutch East-India company fitted out a ship for discovery, and put Hudson in command; who sailed from Amsterdam on the 25th of March, 1609. In the month of September following, they entered the mouth of the river which bears his name; and came to anchor two leagues within it. Here they were visited by the natives, who brought corn, beans, oysters, and tobacco. They had pipes of copper, in which they smoked; and earthen pots in which they dressed their meat. It is evident from his journal, that Hudson penetrated this river as far as where the city of Albany now stands; and the farther he went up the river, the more friendly and hospitable the natives appeared, giving them skins in exchange for knives and other trifles... Morse,Belknap.