Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 09.djvu/523

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
*
471
*

HALIBURTON. 471 HALIFAX. the use of what he calls 'soft sawder,' have given him a fair chance of immortality. In a subse- quent series the author brings Sam Slick to Eng- land as an attache of the United States I.<>ga- tion. These sketches., begun in the Xoca Scotian newspaper in 18.')5, appeared in three series (1837, 18;i8, 1840). Copied into other pajxM-s, they were for a long time popular in America and in England, and were translated into several Continental languages. Among Haliburton's nu- merous other works are: The LettcrBiifi of the Great ^Yestern ; ^'ise Saws and Modern In- stances : Xature and Human Xature; Bubbles of Canada ; Rule and Misrule of the English in America; and An Historie/il and Statistical Ac- count of .Vora Scotia. Consult Memoir, by Crof- ton (Halifax, 1880). HALIBUT (from UE. haly, Eng. holy + IME. hutte, Eng. hut, Ger. liutte, Swed. butta. floun- der: so called as eaten especially on holy days). The largest and most important of the flatfish. This species {Hippoglossus hippoglossus) is elongated and rather thick in form (see colored Plate with Fish as Food) and lies on its left side, which is white, while the right side, uniform dark brown in color, with very small smooth scales, is uppermost and bears both the large eyes. The capacious mouth is symmetrically placed, as also are the ventral fins. Specimens sometimes reach huge size — seven or eight feet in length — and weigh 400 pounds or more: but these are be- lieved always to be females, and their flesh is poor. A weight of 75 pounds or less is more usual, and such fish are in better condition. Lit- tle ones are called 'chicken halibut' by the New England fishermen. The halibut abounds in all northern seas at moderate depths, extending as far south as it can find water only a few- degrees above the freezing-point : hence it ranges farther in winter than in summer, infrequently to the region of Xew York, on the eastern, and San Francisco on the western coast; or to the English Channel in Europe. Formerly it was extremely numerous in Massachusetts Bay and on George's Bank, but since about 1850 has become scarce south of the Banks of Newfoundland, where it haunts the skirts of the Banks, and must year by year be followed into deeper and deeper water (300 to 500 fathoms) as those in the shallower places are depleted. The halibut are voracious, and, despite their bulk, active and fierce; their principal food is believed to be mollusks and crustaceans of various kinds, but they chase and devour all sorts of fishes, and sometimes follow the schools of Arctic capelin close inshore, or pursue fishes at the surface, disabling them with strokes of the tail as well as seizing them in their mouths. The halibut, in its turn, is preyed upon by seals, the white whale, various large sharks, and. when young, by its own kind. The females become heavy with roe in the latter pai't of summer, and then seek comparatively shallow ■water in which to spawn. Halibut are caught by the same methods as are cod. (For particulars see Fisheries.) Two other closely related fishes are the arrow-toothed halibut {Athcrestlics stomias) of the Xorth Pa- cific, about two feet in length and largely caught .and utilized in the Aleutian. Islands; and the Greenland halibut ( Rrinhardtius hippoglossoides) . which is yellowish brown, may reach a very large size, and inhabits the Arctic Atlantic, but not numerously. HAL'ICARNAS'StrS (Lat., from Ok. 'AAi. Kiilimtjaiir ). A Greek city of Caria, in the south- west of Asia Jlinor, on the north shore of the Ceramic Gulf. It was founded by a colony from Tra-zeii. and was one of the cities of the so-called Doric Hexapolis. from which confederacy, how- ever, it was eventually excluded. The Ionian element in the population seems to have been large, for in the fifth century B.C. the ollicial dialect was Ionic. Close to Halicarnassus was the Carian city Salmacis. which formed with it one comnumity, and later became its cliief and almost impregnable citadel. Under the Persian rule it passed to the dominion of the tyrant Lygdamis. whose daughter Artemisia (q.v. ), while ruling for her infant son, conunanded a squadron in the fleet of Xerxes (B.C. 4801. With help from Samos the city threw ott' tht; Persian rule, and became, with other Carian cities, for a time a member of the Athenian League. Later it again fell under Persian control, and in the fourth century we find it the capital of the rulers of Caria. The most celebrated of these was Slausolus, son of Hecatomnus, in whose honor his sister and wife, Artemisia, erected the great mausoleum ( q.v. ) . Alexander the Great de- stroyed the lower town, liut could not capture Salmacis. From that time the town was com- paratively insignificant. Halicarnassus was the birthplace of two of the most eminent of the Greek historians. Herodotus and Dionysius. Early in the fifteenth century the Knights of Saint .John erected here a strong citadel, to which they gave the name of the Petronion. in honor of Saint Peter. From this is derived the modern name Budrun. For an account of the discovery of the ajicient remains of the city, and of the disentomb- meiit of the mausoleum, see JLusoLEUM. HALIDON (hiil'i-don) HILL. A height of land in England, a short distance northwest of Berwick-upon-Tweed, noted as the scene of a bloodv conflict between the English and the Scots, July" 10, 13.33. Edward III., in support of the claims of the fugitive Edward Baliol (q.v.) to the crown of Scotland, . had advanced to the borders with a large army and laid siege to Benvick. The Scotch forces under the Re- gent of Scotland, Archibald Douglas, Lord of G.-xlloway, surnamed 'the Tyneman.' marched to the relief of Berwick, and found the Eng- lish drawn up on the north side of Halidon Hill. Regardless of fatigue, the Scots imme- diately advanced to the attack, sufl'ering se- verely from the English archers while crossing the morass which skirts the base of the hill. They nevertheless struggled onward, and suc- ceeded in mounting the hill, but were thrown into confusion by a charge of the English, and were totally routed. The English cavalry and the Irish auxiliaries committed great slaugliter among the fugitives. According to the Chronicle of Lanercost. Arcliibald Douglas, seven earls, 27 bannerets, and 30.320 foot soldiers" fell. The English loss was comparatively small. The town of Berwick immediately surrendered, and Ed- ward Baliol for a short time regained possession of tlic throne. See Scotland. HALIFAX. The capital of Nova Scotia, Can., on the southeast or outer coast of the peninsula, in latitude 44° 30' N.. and longitude 63^ 35' W. (Map; Nova Scotia, F 5). It is built on the east slope of a small peninsula in Halifax