Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 10.djvu/99

HILPRECHT. 83 HIMALAYA. portance. (See Xippir.) His main works are: J'rdbricf y ebucliadnczar' s I. (1883); Assyriaca (1894); Old Babylonian Inscriptions, Chiefly from ippur (1893 — ); Business Documents of Murashu Sons, of yippur (1898); and many contributions to the Theoloifisehes Littcniturblutt and other theological and Oriental journals. HILTED (from Eng., AS. hilt, Icel. hjalt, OllC;. hclza, hilt; probably connected ultimately with hold). A term used in heraldry (q.v.) to indicate the tincture of the handle of a sword. HILTL, hil'fl. JoHAXS Georg (1826-78). A German actor and author, born in Berlin. After studying for the stage and acting in Hanover from' 1843 to 1845. he was engaged at the Berlin Court Theatre, of which he was the manager from 1854 to 1801. His best acting was in serio- comic parts. He translated many French dramas, and wrote a series of historical novels which had considerable popularity, though they lacked per- manent literary value. The best known of these are: (JefahrroUe Mege (1805); I'nter der roten Eminenz (1869) ; Der alte Derfflinger und seine Draaoner (1871); Das Roggenhauskomplott (1873); Die Dnmen von yanzig (1874); and Auf immer verschuunden (1878). His works on history are; Der bohmische Krieg und der Main- feldzu'g (4th ed. 1873) ; Der franzosisehe Krieg von 1870-71 (7th ed. 1895) ; Preussisehe KUnigs- geschiehten (1875) ; Vnser Fritz (.5th ed. 1891) ; and Der grosse Kurfiirst und seine Zcit (3d ed. 1893). HIL'TON, WiLLi.si (1786-1839). An English painter, born at Lincoln. He was a pupil of Raphael Smith, "the engraver, and studied in the Royal Academy, where his first work was ex- hibited in 1803.' In 1827 he was appointed keeper of the academy. Hilton's paintings were better .appreciated by men of his own profession than by the general public, and because of his over-use of asphaltum, they have lost in color. Neverthe- less the following are in color and composition notable pictures: "Christ Crowned with Thorns" (1825), in South Kensington: "Sir Calepine Receiving Serena" (1831) and "Edith Discover- ing the Body of Harold" (1834), both in the Na- tional Gallerv: "Una with the Lion." "The Cru- citi.xion." "The Murder of the Innocents" (1838), an<l a portrait of Keats. HILVEHSUM, hil'ver-snm. A town in the Province of North Holland. Netherlands. 18 miles southeast of Amsterdam (Map: Netherlands. D 2). It contains r number of textile mills, and is a favorite summer resort for Amsterdam resi- dents. Population, in 1889, 12.393; in 1899, 19,443. HIMALAYA, hl-mii'ia-ya (Skt.. the abode of snow, from hima. snow -f- alaya. abode). In South Central Asia, the most elevated and stu- pendous mountain system on the globe (Map: India. D 3). It is not, as sometimes represented, a single chain, but a system, consisting of several parallel and converging ranges, with a vast num- ber of rugged, snowy peaks, separated by great elevated valleys and plateaus. On the north the system descends to the elevated plateau of Tibet; on the south to the depression drained by the Ganges and the Indus. The system starts with the Karakorum, in the Pamirs, whence it trends south- east and east, sweeping in a broad curve, convex southward. The mass of the Himalaya proper extendf from the great bend of the Indus in the west to the great bend of the Brahmaputra ia the east, or from longitude 73" 23' to 95° 40' E., a distance of nearly 1500 miles. Their average breadth is about 150 miles. The mean elevation of the range is from 16,000 to 18.000 feet, but 45 of its peaks are now known to exceed 23,000 feet m height. Of these, there are in Kumaon, Nanda Devi, 25.600 feet; in Nepal, Dhawalagiri, 20,826 feet; Mount Everest, 29,002 (the highest known point on the globe) ; in Kashmir, Mounts Godwin-Austen. 28,278; Gusherbrum, 20,378; Masherbrum. 25.600; and Kakapushi, 25,560 feet ; in Bhutan, Chumalari, 23.946 feet, and Kutha Kangir. 24.740 feet; and on the borders of Sikkim and Nepal, Kunehinjinga, 28,150 feet, for a long time thought to be the second summit of the entire system. The southern base of the Himalaya comprises three distinct regions — first, adjoining the plains of Hindustan, the Terai. a jungle or grass-covered marshy plain; next, the great belt of Saul Wood, stretching along a great part of the range; and beyond it the Dhuns, a belt of detritus, extending to the foot of the true mountains. In the foothills above these regions, which are extremely un- healthy, are placed the sanitaria for troops — Darjeling. Simla, JIurree. The first is connected by a mountain railway with the Bengal system. There are no plains and liut few lakes of large size in the Himalaya ; the chief of the latter are Naini Tal. in Kumaon. 6.520 feet, and the lake of Kashmir. 6125 feet above the sea. Small glacial lakes are abundant in the heads of the gorges. Snow falls at rare intervals in the mountains as low as 2500 feet, but at 6000 feet it snows every winter. The limit of perennial snow in the main or central Himalaya is 16,200 feet on the south and 17.400 feet on the north side; an anomaly probably owing to the dry atmos- phere of Tibet, aiid the small quantity of rain and snow that falls there. The high range of the Himalaya forms a vast screen, which intercepts and condenses nearly all the moisture carried by the southwest monsoons from the Indian Ocean, and deposits it on the .south- ern face of the mountains; hence at Cherra Punji. 4200 feet above the sea. as much as 600 inches of rain has been known to fall in one year. Glaciers are found in every part of the range above the snow-line : one of these, that of Deotal in Garh- wal. is 17.945 feet above the sea. Among the largest of the glaciers are the Baltoro (33 miles in length) and Biafo, in the Karakorum Range. The passes in the Himalaya are the most elevated of the globe, and the greater number are upward of 17.000 feet in height. The highest known is Ibi-Gamin Pass into Garhwal. 20.457 feet, and the highest used for traffic is the Parang Pa.ss in Spiti, IS. .500 feet above the sea. All the passes above 10.000 feet are closed with snow from No- vember till May. While the upheaval of the sys- tem probably commenced in early geologic times, the principal uplift occurred in the middle or late Tertiary- period, in the niountainniaking epoch which was signalized by the elevation of the alpine system of Europe. The geological structure of the Himalaya consist of crystalline rocks, with granite, gneiss, and a schistose for- mation, comprising micaceous, chloritic. and talcose schists. Earthquakes are of frequent occurrence in the central range. The Sanpo or Brahmaputra and Indus — which rise in close