HALL, a town in northern Tyrol, Austria, government district of Innsbruck, is picturesquely situated between two mountains on the left bank of the Inn, which is navigable there, and on the railway from Rosenheim to Innsbruck, 5 miles east of the latter. It is the seat of a district court, of a board of salt-works, and of a provincial board of mines. The beautiful Gothic parish church, dating from the 13th century, contains an altar-piece by a pupil of Rubens and the copy of a Christ by Albert Diirer. The principal other public buildings are several monasteries, the gymnasium, the deaf and dumb institute, and the lunatic asylum. The prosperity of the town depends chiefly upon its salt-works, which are supplied by pipes from the mines at Salzberg, 9 miles distant; the annual yield of salt is from 15,000 to 16,000 tons. A considerable number of invalids visit the town on account of its salt-water baths. The principal other industries are the manufacture of woollen cloth, thread, paper, and substitutes for coffee. Hall obtained town rights in 1303. It suffered considerably from earthquakes in 1663 and 1670. In 1809 the patriot Speckbacher on three separate occasions succeeded in storming the position of the Bavarians on the bridge which crosses the Inn at this point. The population in 1870 was 5010.
HALL (generally known as Swabian Hall), a town of Wiirtemberg, circle of Jagst, is situated in a deep valley on both sides of the Kocher, and on the railway from Heil- bronn to Krailsheim, 35 miles N.E. of Stuttgart. It is surrounded by strong walls, and possesses seven churches, one of them dating from the 15th century and having fine mediaeval carving; a town-house, a lyceum, a real-school of the second order, a hospital, and a house of correction. A short distance south from the town is the old castle of Komburg, now used as a garrison for invalid soldiers, with a richly adorned Benedictine church dating from the 12th century. The town is chiefly known for its extensive salt works, supplied by means of a pips from Wilhelmsgliick mine, 5 miles distant. Connected with the salt-works there is a salt-bath and whey-diet establishment. The other industries of the town are cotton-spinning and weaving, and the manufacture of leather, soap, starch, sago, brushes, pencils, machines, carriages, and metal wares. The popu lation in 1875 was 8430.
Hall originally belonged to the counts of "Westheim, and later to the Knights Templars. It was made a free imperial city in the 14th century, and was afterwards included in the different leagues of the cities, knights, and counts. In 1802 it came into the posses sion of Wiirtemberg.
HALL, Basil (1788–1844), British traveller and mis cellaneous writer, was born at Edinburgh, December 31, 1788. His father, Sir James Hall of Dunglass, was author of an essay on Gothic Architecture, and con tributed to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, of which he for a time was president, several ingenious papers on geology, in support of Hutton s theory as against that of Werner. His mother was Helen, daughter of Dunbar, fourth earl of Selkirk. Basil Hall was educated at the High School of Edinburgh, and in 1802 entered the navy, where he rose to the rank of post-captain in 1817. By observing the ethnological as well as the physical peculiarities of the countries he visited, he collected the materials for a very large number of scientific papers, which he contributed to various journals and encyclopaedias. In 1816 he com manded the sloop " Lyra," which accompanied Lord Amherst s embassy to China ; and in this vessel he per formed the cruise which he describes in the most popular and perhaps the most interesting of his works An Account of a Voyage of Discovery to the West Coast of Corea and the Great Loo-choo Island in the Japan Sea (London, 1818). In 1820 he held a command on the Pacific coast of America, and in 1824 published two volumes of Extracts from a Journal ivritten on the Coasts of Chili, Peru, and Mexico in the years 1820-21-22. Retiring on half-pay in 1824, Hall in 1825 married a daughter of Sir John Hunter, and in her company travelled (1827-28) through the United States. In 1829 he published his Travels in North America in the years 1827 and 1828, a book almost as popular as his first, less from its intrinsic merit than from the violence with which it was assailed by the American press for its views of American society. iSchloss Hainfeld, or a Winter in Lower Styria (1836), is partly a romance, partly a description of a visit paid by the author to the castle of the Countess Purgstall. Sjxtin and the Seat of War in Spain appeared in 1837. The Fragments of Voyages and Travels (9 vols.) were issued in three detach ments between 1831 and 1840. Captain Hall was a fellow of the Royal Societies of London and Edinburgh, and a member of the Astronomical Society of London, and has left a number of scientific and miscellaneous writings besides those mentioned. His last work, a collection of sketches and tales under the name of Patchwork (1841), had not been long published before its author was seized with insanity, from which he was only released by his death, in Haslar Hospital, Portsmouth, September 11, 1844.
explorer, was born at Rochester, New Hampshire, United States, in 1821. After following the trade of black smith he became a journalist in Cincinnati, but his enthu siasm for Arctic exploration led him in 1859 to volunteer to the American Geographical Society to "go in search of the bones of Franklin." With the proceeds of a subscrip tion he was equipped for his modest expedition, and obtained a passage in May 1860 on board a New London whaling vessel commanded by Captain Buddington, the same who had picked up the English search-ship "Resolute." The whaler having become blocked up with ice, Hall took up his abode with the Eskimo, living with them for two years, adopting their habits and acquiring their language, making special friends of two natives, man and wife, who had been in England and knew something of our language. He wandered about with the Eskimo in the region to the north of Hudson s Bay, acquiring much information, especially about the people. He published an account of his experiences in 1864, under the title of Arctic Researches, and Life among the Esquimaux. Having learned little or nothing, however, about the fate of the Franklin expedi tion, he returned in 1864, remaining among the Eskimo till 1869. Unfortunately the full journal he kept of his five years wanderings has never been published. The expedi tion which brought Hall most prominently into notice was fitted out in 1871 in the steamer " Polaris," which was sent out at the expense of the United States Government, its object being to reach the supposed open Polar Sea, and if possible .attain the Pole. Hall was in command, while Buddington was sailing master. There was a modest but competent scientific staff, and among the crew were Hall s two old Eskimo friends, who had became devoted to him. On June 29, 1871, the " Polaris " left New York, and making a remarkably rapid passage up Davis Straits and Smith Sound, reached on August 30 the lat. of 82 16 N., until the last English expedition the highest northern latitude reached of which there is any authentic report. Hall and most of the officers and crew were for proceeding onwards, but they were overruled by Buddington, and went into winter quarters in a sheltered cove on the Greenland coast, named Polaris Bay, in 81 38 N. On October 24th Hall returned from a successful sledge expedition to the north, and was suddenly seized by an illness of which he died on November 8th. As there were some suspicions of poison, an inquiry was made by the Navy Department, who found that there was no proof of foul play. Captain
Buddington, on whom the command devolved, determined
